Persona 4: Demon Ears
by oRpheusB20
Summary: Instead of Saki getting killed in the beginning, this time Yu goes to watch the Midnight Channel, and he sees himself! He enters the TV, and Naoto later finds him passed out by the river. Only problem, he has strange cat-like ears on his head! So he sets out, trying to find out what happened, save some people from death, hide his new ears and live a normal life. Being re-written.
1. ()The Shadow in the TV

**Hey there! This is my first published story, though in my free time I have a tendency to type random ideas that pop up into my head.**

** Essentially this is about what I kind of expected the Persona fanfic Kizuna to be about when I read the description. Then I read the first chapter, and compared it to what was in my head, I said to myself, "Hey, why don't I make the version I thought it would be myself?"**

** And so this was born. It is a little random, but it is the best story I have made so far, evidenced by the fact that on Word it is up to 50 pages by now. (I've already written ten chapters.) None of my other random stories have anywhere near that many, I mean really now, what can beat that at this point?**

** I tried to make this as accurate as possible in regards to the day Social Links happen and everything like that. Also, just imagine Yu has Sage Knowledge, and everything else is pathetic because of his previous lack of friends. **

**I don't own the Persona series or anything; I think that is pretty obvious. (Even if I did, I wouldn't change anything, the series is perfect as it is.)**

**Enough boring the people that actually read these things. On to the story with thy!**

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><p>Chapter 1<p>

(Not long after Yu started to settle down in Inaba…) (Wednesday) (21st)

He was told by that Chie girl to watch what was known as the Midnight Channel. He didn't want to, but something about it intriguing to him, sparked an interest in him that he didn't even know that he had. He promised himself that he would cut off his communications with the two he had met that day after he did so. He didn't want to get attached to them like a lot of people that he had met while he had first started bouncing around because of his parents. It was too painful.

As he stared at the screen of his tiny TV, the sound of rain splattering against the window attached to the side of his room, the clock struck 12. What Yu saw when the blank screen lit up like it was said it would, however, was far from what he had expected.

It was him. Yu stared at the TV him, and it seemed to stare back, though it was looking at the ground. Yu felt that the other him was staring into his soul, knowing the pain that he had been through. Its eyes were blank, from what Yu could tell, considering his hair hid most of his eyes, although he swore he saw yellow. Dried blood ran down his face, almost like it was because he tried to claw his eyes out, possibly to not have to see something that he didn't want to see. The other him still seemed to have sight however, showing that he had failed his attempt.

The other him started to speak, "I'm so lonely, but I'm too afraid to get close to anyone, not even a cat or dog. I'm afraid to make friends. I don't know what I'm doing anymore."

Yu gazed at the other him. He didn't like to admit it, but the TV him that somehow knew that about him was correct. He was constantly bounced around because of his parents work, and for some reason, never went to the same school twice. Any friends that he made while there forgot about him in a week, no matter how long he had spent there. Eventually, Yu gave up, disconnecting from the people around him, preferring to study, nothing more. As such, he was well ahead of all of the classes he went to, but was now bored as a result, though refusing to make friends to avoid what he deemed as 'unnecessary' heartache later on.

Yu felt that he was in a rut that was seemingly impossible to get out of. The world was a cold place without friends, but he didn't want to make any, as he would lose them later. As he looked at the other's bloodied face, Yu started to feel that it represented it. He didn't want to face a reality where he was friendless, but he continued to push away potential friends. It was like the other's attempt to rid himself of his eyes. He tried to get rid of the need of eyesight (Yu's need for at least one friend), but he didn't have the courage to do so; unconsciously knowing that he would be dying on the inside for the rest of his life if he managed it.

Yu started to want to talk to the TV him, see what had happened to make him so downcast. He reached out to his TV, his palm passing through the cold screen of the TV. Finding that his whole body wouldn't fit, Yu walked downstairs to the larger TV there. He stepped inside without a thought crossing his mind that it was a bad idea.

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><p>Inside of the TV world that Yu had fallen into, he found himself sitting in a blank space, covered up by a yellowish fog. Standing in front of him was the TV self that he had seen a minute ago upstairs.<p>

"Do you admit it?" The other him asked Yu, staring off into the distance.

Though it confused him why the other him asked that, Yu answered, "You mean that I'm lonely, but won't do anything about it because that would cause worse pain when I leave? It's kind of hard not to."

"Correct," the other answered. "I am you, representing the things that you don't want to see, or just plain refuse to believe. Call me your Shadow, if you will."

"Why did you appear on the TV when I was testing out that Midnight Channel thing?" Yu asked his "Shadow."

"That is what the Channel is about really, helping the people realize what is wrong with them. Accepting us Shadows is always an impressive feat; most people have a hard time facing the things that they hide away. However anyone that can, will almost always turn their situation around. With the powers that you will obtain from this world, and me, you will surely gain friends that will not just forget about you."

The Shadow smiled warmly, and then the smile slipped away into a frown. "The thing is that if you cannot accept what the Shadow is telling you, you'll die, it will go into a rampage. I want you to do something for me, Yu Narukami, my other self." Yu looked at his Shadow in confusion. "Accepting your Shadow may be a fine thing to do, but if at all possible, make sure no one else enters this world. Hiding your new powers will be difficult, but something tells me that you don't want to be dragged off to a secret lab far away to be dissected. Nor anyone else."

Yu smiled. "Of course, and if anyone else does comes inside anyway, I will ensure that their Shadows will not kill them." His Shadow smiled as he looked at Yu, the blood on his face disappearing, as he started floating off the ground. For a second, he transformed into what appeared to be a warrior, with a polearm weapon clutched in his hand. He then turned into a small glowing ball, floating into Yu's chest. Yu then blacked out as a large amount of pain overtook him.

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><p>Naoto had been walking down the street by the river, tired. She had worked past midnight, and was about to fall over. Looking over at the river, she saw something through the fog that shocked her. There was a boy lying there, unconscious, something bright shining like a beacon at the top of his head. Her previous lack of energy gone, she rushed over, stopping a few feet away, finding glowing cat-like ears onto of his head.<p>

Looking at the teen, she realized that he was Dojima's nephew. Pulling out her cell, she called up Dojima at his home. After a bit, he picked up, sounding very annoying as he asked, "What do you want, it's after midnight!"

"I'm sorry, Dojima-san, but are you aware that your nephew is currently lying by the river, with glowing cat, something like that, ears on his head?"

"Who is this?!" Dojima yelled quietly, trying not to wake up his kid. "What kind of prank are you trying to pull?"

"Dojima-san, it's me, Naoto Shirogane." She heard Dojima sighed. "I'm not kidding, I'm sure your nephew has silver hair, correct?" She heard Dojima suck in breath. "He is lying by the river, and I don't think those cat-like ears are fake."

"Alright, keep an eye on him, I'll come see." Dojima said, preparing to hang up.

"Right, also, you might want to call a therapist while on the way, if those are as real as they appear, then he might be a bit traumatized when he wakes. And, you might want to beware the fog. It is really thick." Dojima sighed and hung up.

Naoto stared at the ears that occasionally twitched. They were a rainbow of colors with a tie dye pattern. She took a couple steps forward, and crouched down. Slowly she extended her index finger. She lightly poked one of the glowing "things" atop Yu's head, and it jerked, startling her, making her back away a little. Mustering her courage, she started lightly pulling at the ear that she had poked. It didn't come off, so it had to be real, attached to his head. Yu's expression turned to one of discomfort at the pulling.

Backing away, Naoto heard a voice call out. "Shirogane, where are you?"

Naoto looking in the direction that the voice had come from, surprised that Dojima had come that fast. "Dojima-san? Over here!" She moved out of the way of the ear's glow, and Dojima was over in a couple seconds, panting.

He gasped as he got a good look at the ears. "Are you sure that these aren't fake ears or something?"

"I tried to pull them off. Unless he had used superglue to ensure that they stayed on his head, then they're real alright, plus, they twitch." Naoto answered. "What are we going to do if they are real?"

"He will have to wear a hat at all times, not taking it off unless he is sleeping. No one is to know about this expect you, me, him, and possibly a therapist, like you suggested." Dojima answered. He held out his hand. "We have to get him back to my house. Give me your hat." Naoto wanted to question the point, but knew there was probably someone that was awake at the time, so she did so without a complaint.

Luckily they managed to get home without someone seeing them. When they got home, Nanako was standing there, looking at them in confusion. Naoto looked over at Dojima, silently asking whether they should tell her. He shook his head in a 'no.' "Not yet, if they are there in the morning, then we will." He whispered.

"Daddy," Nanako started. "Where did you go? What happened to Yu-kun?" She looked at Naoto. "Who are you?"

"Those questions will be answered tomorrow; more like today, since it is after midnight, now go to sleep." He looked at Naoto. "I want to know what you were doing out after midnight." Nanako sighed and returned to her room. Naoto lifted her hat off of Yu's head, placing it back on her own, not responding. "You know, I don't think that you will be getting home. One way or other you will be coming back, so why don't you stay?" Naoto's expression changed to one of slight shock as Dojima took of his shoes, finally realizing that Yu was in the clothes that he had been wearing upon going to bed that night, lack of shoes included.

He returned Yu to his room, and gave Naoto some blankets as she settled onto the couch. Dojima was asleep on his feet when he returned to his bed, plopping down and drifting away into sleep.

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><p><strong>So, yeah, anyone who read this, tell me your honest opinion of how to better it. Every bit will help, I'm sure. Though considering I have written the ten chapters already, changing a crap ton of this will be problematic. Whatever, I will attempt should anyone say anything helpful.<strong>

** Trust me though; it gets better as I get more into a groove of how the characters act in my own style. I'm trying to aim for not very OOC characters, but everyone has their own way of looking at a character, so that really complicates things.**

** Anyway, I will probably upload the next chapter next week. I hope that will be my update schedule until I catch up to the chapters I am working on, but I write a chapter in two, three days I think, so I hope that won't be a problem.**


	2. ()Inside the TV and the Weird Empty Bear

**Yay, a new chapter! It's a little short, but whatever man. Thanks to the few people that actually read this story. You make me feel so good inside to know that people will read the random stuff that pops out of my mind. I'm already on Chapter 12, so I decided that I would upload this a bit earlier than I had intended. Also, please tell me what kind of pairings you want to see. I already have one persons opinion, but some more would be great.**

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><p>Chapter 2<p>

(The next morning…) (Thursday) (22nd)

Yu woke feeling strangely gleeful, walking downstairs with a smile on his face, though that smile disappeared when he saw Dojima conversing with a girl that he had met a few days ago. They looked at him as he walked down, and frowned.

"Damn it, they're still there." Naoto whispered. "What are we going to tell Nanako?"

"Hey guys, what are you talking about, and Naoto, shouldn't you be preparing for school, not talking to my uncle?" Yu asked.

Naoto sighed. "You and I are going to be taking the day off today. It doesn't matter too much anyway, there is about an hour left by now. Dojima is also taking the day off from his work." She took off her hat, throwing it to him. Yu caught it, shooting her a confused look. "Really?" She questioned, knowing something that he didn't. "Go look in the mirror."

Yu rolled his eyes, but humored her demand anyway. When he did look in the mirror, he was shocked, and tugged at the ears that had appeared, realizing that they were real. He screamed, and quickly put on the hat, rushing out. "That took longer than I thought it would." Dojima said calmly. Naoto nodded in agreement.

"Who else knows about this?!" Yu asked/screamed at the two detectives.

"Just us right now, but we were thinking about get a therapist involved as well." Naoto responded with a thoughtful look on her face. "Before you got up, we were talking about getting you out of anything that required you to take off your hat, when we get you your own, of course. You won't be keeping mine."

Nanako walked up, with a frown, getting home from school, which ended for her earlier that high school and middle school. "Daddy, you need to answer the questions that I asked yesterday."

Dojima looked like he wanted to smile, but also frown. "Technically, it was after midnight, so it was today." He sighed. "Listen, can you keep a very important secret. No one, not even your closest friend can catch wind of this secret. Can you keep it?" Nanako nodded. "Good, this is very important, I cannot stress that enough. Yu, take off your hat."

Yu looked hesitant to do so, but finally, he removed the hat. Nanako gasped at the ears that popped out, smiling and saying, "They are so cute! Where did you buy them?" Yu leaned over, and asked Nanako to pull at them. Confused, she complied, and found that no matter how hard she pulled, they wouldn't come off, and she stopped after she realized that she was paining Yu. "Nanako-chan, they are real. Like your dad said, no one can know about this, OK? Can you do that for me?"

Nanako smiled, and nodded. "Of course, but on one condition." Yu tensed up. "You need to not wear a hat when you are home, and there aren't guests." Yu smiled and relaxed, he could manage that easily.

"We need to go get you a hat now. Like I said, you aren't keeping mine." Naoto said, getting up, Dojima following. Yu sighed as he walked back upstairs to change. While he was doing so, he screamed again startling the people downstairs. When he came down, Yu lifted his coat, and showed them that he also had a tail, the same colors and followed the same pattern that his ears had. The detectives sighed in annoyance. One more creepy unexplainable thing to try and cover up. Good thing they were getting him out of P.E. in general.

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><p>(At Junes)<p>

The place was starting to fill up because high school had let out. Yu hung back from the rest of the group that he was following, stopping completely and forgetting that he had been walking behind anyone when he looked at the TVs in the electronics section. He unconsciously walked inside, passing by the two he had met the other day, with the boy trying to get the girl to think about getting a large, expensive flat-screen TV, since he worked there as a part-time job. When they saw Yu walk by, Yosuke stopped him, asking what he wanted, saying that Chie was being a stick-in-the-mud about get a new TV, getting kicked in the gut as a result.

Yu started to reach for a medium sized flat-screen TV, and Yosuke started to yell at him. "Dude, I know that is a display unit, but don't go getting it covered with fingerprints!" Yu didn't stop reaching forward. "What did I just say dude?" He asked in annoyance.

Yu's hand disappeared into the TV, shocking the two teens, who started screaming and running around. Yu ignored them, and continued moving his hand through, until Chie and Yosuke ran into each other, and in turn pushed them all through the TV.

They all fell a couple feet, and hit the ground with a large 'thunking' noise. When Yu got up, he realized that his hat was gone, and he started to run off, not wanting the two to see that he had strange cat-like ears. Chie grabbed him before he could get anywhere. "OK, smart one, what the hell just happened?" She looked up. "Are those… ears?"

Yu turned around, clasping his hands together and bowing. "Please don't tell anyone, please, can you guys keep it a secret, I don't want anyone who knows already to realize that I walked away and that you saw." He begged the two, both of them staring, dumbfounded at what was going on. They nodded, agreeing to not let anyone know about what they were seeing at that moment. "Thank you guys; I don't know why I stuck my hand inside the TV to begin with."

Chie spoke up. "Um, about that, how are we going to get back?" They started to look around, Yu seeing something in the distance, seeing farther in the fog that the "normal" people.

"Don't freak out, but we aren't alone." Yu said. The others whipped their heads to where Yu was looking, seeing something in the fog. They heard a voice calling to them.

"Who are you guys?" A bear costume materialized though the fog, and Yu was sure that he now had more than a tail and ears since the other night. He could already tell that the bear was empty inside, no one was making the bear costume move; it was doing so on its own. "What are you doing here, wrecking the peace?" The bear sighed as he looked at Yu. "I already pushed you out once around midnight, why did you come back?"

Everyone was shocked at the bear. "I did enter earlier, didn't I?" Yu said, crouching down to be at eye level with the bear. "I'm sorry; I didn't even realize I was entering the TV until it was too late. You said that you let me out? Can you do it again for us; we didn't mean to interrupt the peace of this place."

The bear sighed. "Well, if you didn't mean to… I guess I will, but unless it is really important, then I don't want to see you here again."

Yu smiled, "Thank you, um…"

"My name is Teddie!" The bear introduced himself.

"Right well, thank you, Teddie. I'm Yu, Yu Narukami." Yu extended his hand. Teddie seemed a bit stunned, but shook his hand regardless, before dancing a little, with three TVs stacked on top of one another dropping down, seemingly as a result of the dance.

Teddie pointed at the bottom TV. "There you go, there is your exit. Like I said, don't come back unless it is necessary, Yu-kun. That goes for you two as well." He turned to Yosuke and Chie. Yu smiled, and stepped into the TV, passing through it into the other side, back into Junes…

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><p><strong>Yeah, not the best I've done but it sets things up. Also, PLEASE NOTE that the Social Links until around the middle of Chapter 10 will be a little lackluster. I didn't really care, so I forced a lot of them to be in one hang out, so it is a little rushed feeling, but I'm not going back to change it. If you love the Social Links, then I'm sorry, but you will have to slog through it if you want to read this.<strong>


	3. ()Shadow Yosuke and Strange Powers

**Alright then, next chapter! The first Persona fight and I can't make this the best.**

** I wanted to upload this on Halloween, but I didn't want to turn on my computer before I went to school. After school, I had time to go to the bathroom and put down my backpack, and then we had to leave. When I got home, it was 9:40 (Or something like that.) So I had no reason to turn on the computer then. So it's uploaded now. Have fun…**

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><p>Chapter 3<p>

Back at Junes, Yu stepped onto the tiled floor, and instantly grabbed Naoto's hat, placing it on top of his head before anyone saw him without it. As the last ripples from the TV disappeared upon the others coming out, Naoto walked up, grabbing his wrist and started to drag him away before he could talk to the two about keeping the other world a secret. "We are not here to look at TVs senpai." Yu apologized, and Naoto stopped dragging him.

About a minute later, they found Dojima and Nanako sitting at the food court. "Geez Yu, you were quiet the whole trip here, we didn't even notice that you disappeared." Dojima said.

"He was in the electronics section with some other high school students." Naoto informed Dojima. "We should just get you a hat and leave before you cause any trouble."

'A little bit too late to be saying that.' Yu thought as they walked towards wherever the hats would be located, Naoto staying next to him, ensuring that he wouldn't wander off again.

Half an hour later, (because Nanako got distracted quite a bit at the different things that Junes had to offer) they had finally found Yu a suitable hat that didn't bulge or anything of the sort because of the ears. It was multi-colored like his ears, only without the tie dye pattern, it was more like a blob, like all of the colors of Skittles after chewed together. So far no one had noticed the tail that he had either, which he mostly kept wrapped around his wrist. Naoto just figured that anyone who did see it mistook it for a colorful furry belt, which Yu was perfectly fine with.

On the way home, Yu got himself a job making origami cranes and translating, telling his uncle that he had a tendency to get bored easily, and would blow right through them. He also picked up a toy model that a man requested that he finish for whatever reason. He saw some books that he wanted as well, but he didn't have any money, and he was told that he would have to pay for that on his own, so he'd 'better get cracking on those jobs.' They ran into a few other people, but none of them gave Yu anything else to do.

After getting home, Yu went upstairs to begin on the model like a kid that just got a new toy, and couldn't wait to open it, leaving the others to talk about what to do to get him out of P.E. for the rest of his school years, every other year after he moves again included. They figured that they would just tell the school's staff that he had contracted a disease that prevented him from physically exerting himself, which it didn't have a name, didn't seem to be contagious, and was only dangerous to him if he was in P.E. They figured that they would tell his parents when the time came. With that decided, Naoto returned home, promising Dojima that tomorrow she would watch out for Yu, and guarantee that he wouldn't remove his hat throughout the day.

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><p>(Friday) (23rd)<p>

The next day went without any problems, though after school the two that had fallen into the TV with Yu dragged him away before he could go home, or talk to anyone that he had intended to talk to, mainly Naoto about getting out of P.E. He had barely managed to make up an excuse that let him out. They took him to the Junes food court, and started talking to him about going back into the TV, to which Yu objected to the idea, repeating Teddie, that it had to be absolutely necessary to return to the other world, but Yosuke forced Yu's hand into the TV anyway and pushed himself through the portal that his hand had created, dragging Yu along, but leaving Chie behind.

Yu growled as he landed in the other world. Ripping off his hat, Yu threw it to the ground in a rage. "I told you, I didn't want to go back unless I had to!" His ears stuck straight up, and his tail did so as well.

Yosuke backed away from him. "OK, I won't want to ever want come back here again, just get rid of the fangs and claws man!"

Yu looked down. His fingernails had grown to long points, and feeling his teeth revealed that they had become that of an animal's, sharp, made to kill. Slowly, his teeth returned to their natural state, however, his nails remained the same length. Yu reasoned that it was ignited by his anger. An animal side of him that he didn't know he had (but probably appeared with the ears and tail) changed him into something that wasn't really human.

"Sorry, I didn't know I could do that." Yu said to Yosuke. "Um, do you have any nail clippers?" Yosuke looked at the claws that had been short a minute ago. Slowly, he pulled out nail clippers in his pocket and handed them to Yu, who accepted them, and started to trim his nails down to length.

"Keep them," Yosuke told him. "If you get angry again, you need to hide any evidence that something like that could happen. I needed new ones anyway."

"Right, now that we have that out of the way, what are we going to tell the bear about why we are here?" Yu asked him. "I don't want to have to talk to him, I have a bad feeling that he will blow up on us."

"Well, to avoid talking to him, let's go see if there are any of those exit TVs lying around. Lead the way, I mean, you can see better than me, right?" Yu sighed, and started walking away.

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><p>A minute later, Teddie appeared, sniffing. "Those morons are back." He sniffed again. "Without the girl, heading… that way!" Teddie started running in the direction that the two had wondered off in.<p>

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><p>"Walking off and not waiting for the bear has probably doomed us." Yosuke commented, confused, as it seemed that they were now in a twisted version of Inaba's shopping distract.<p>

"It appears that is the case." Yu added, turning around, starting to walk back, Yosuke following, seeming to want to cling to Yu's arm like a child.

Yu stopped after heading a noise. He turned around and saw a black blob. It was moving towards them, in a threatening manner. Yosuke backed away, and Yu took a fighting position. When he did so, a blue energy surrounded him, and a card appeared in front of his face. An unknown voice in his head told him to not fear it, and without realizing it, he automatically crushed the card in his hand. It shattered, accompanied by the sound of breaking glass.

The warrior that his Shadow momentarily transformed into stood behind Yu, towering over him. The blob stared for a second, before running/slithering away in a fright. Yu knew that letting it live would only cause problems later, so he ordered the soldier behind him to attack.

In a quick slash, the creature was gone, and the giant turned into a ball, and disappeared into Yu like it had the other day. He heard the unknown voice again, "I am thou. Thou art I. I am the Persona known as Izanagi. I will fight by thou side as long as my assistance is required."

Yosuke said, "Wow," as he approached Yu. "Originally, I thought it would be cool to have ears like that, but now, I'm frightened, and not sure if I want it anymore, if that is the power you get from it."

A voice from behind them spoke up. "There you are!" They turned around to find Teddie, out of breath somehow, considering he was a costume, and looking very annoyed. "Why are you back here? I don't see any urgency in your movements, so you must have come just to mess with the peace!"

"Listen, Teddie," Yu started, then he paused for a moment. "It was all Yosuke's fault."

Yosuke looked shocked at Yu's bluntness, and fell to his knees, and dramatically said, "I thought that this world should be looked into, considering it's inside a TV!"

"Stop lying to yourself, you were just bored." A voice said, a second Yosuke with yellow eyes walking out from behind a nearby telephone pole.

"It's his Shadow!" Teddie and Yu called out simultaneously, before looking at each other, each wondering how the other knew.

Before a conversion could start about the Shadows, Yosuke's started talking about how he only want to come to the other world because he was bored, and had nothing better to do, since he was too lazy to study. Everything had somehow managed to bore him to death, and coming to the TV world was a breath of fresh foggy air.

Yosuke denied the Shadow's claims, and said to the Shadow, "You don't know anything about me, you aren't me!"

The Shadow started to laugh and a thick cloud of darkness appeared, covering the Shadow, until it formed something that looked like a camo-frog with half a humanoid figure on top of it, waving around a little. "I am a Shadow, the true self." It spoke.

Yu quickly called forth the being that called itself Izanagi. The Shadow made an annoyed sound, and called forth numerous smaller Shadows that started to get it the way of Izanagi's progress.

Knowing that he had to step in, Yu was about to jump in before realizing that he had no weapon. He gulped, and decided to rely on the strange demon power that had appeared earlier. He closed his eyes, concentrating, Izanagi stopping when he did so. The Persona got smacked around, but Yu continued to picture the strange powers that he had in his mind. Eventually, Yu felt a surge of energy, and opened his eyes, finding that his nails had grown again, and his teeth were sharp.

He shot forward, ripping his way through the mass of Shadows like an animal, using everything at his disposable (Causing a horrible taste in his mouth) as his Persona moved to take down Yosuke's other self. Yu moved like a predator, using all four appendages, figuring that if he was to use the power more, he could get some weapons that would work around the fact that he used all four of his limbs. The fight was over quickly.

After Yu took down the last Shadow, he pulled out the nail clippers, calmly walking over to Yosuke, his Shadow, and Teddie, while trimming his nails. "Don't do that again Yosuke, I don't want to clip my nails again today."

"It's my fault now!?" Yosuke yelled at him.

"Just accept the damn Shadow." Yu replied, focusing on his nails, trying to remember how long they were before entering the TV.

Yosuke sighed and looked at his Shadow. "You were right, I was just bored, nothing more. I'm sorry I said that you aren't me. After all, only I could know that I'm bored out of my mind back in Inaba. I pride myself with my amazing acting."

The Shadow nodded and smiled, though it rolled it's eyes, like it was saying, 'I accept your apology, but you aren't that good at acting.' It then transformed into a strange looking Persona that was a mix of the Shadow's battle form, only more humanoid. It changed into a ball a second later, and disappeared into Yosuke's chest, like Yu's did.

Yosuke fell forward, tired. Yu sighed and helped Yosuke as he followed Teddie to where they entered. Teddie called forth the TVs, saying that if they were to exit, or enter, it had to be from the same spot, because otherwise, even entering the TV next to the one they had been using could send them a couple miles away from their current position. Yu nodded and pushed Yosuke through the TV, before picking up the hat that he had forgotten he had threw off, climbing through it himself.

Back in Junes, Yu quickly put on his hat, and talked to Chie about what to do with the unconscious Yosuke. Chie sighed and told Yu to go home; she had dealt with Yosuke being passed out before. Yu didn't want to complain, nor question why she had done so before, so he didn't, and went home without another word.

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><p><strong> Ok then, there you people go. Next chapter done. Next time is a bit of a long one, including Yosuke, Chie, and Yukiko's Shadow. Yay! <strong>


	4. ()P3 Reference and Shadow Chie

**Alright,** **next! (In Ken's voice) **

**This time, in the Velvet Room, Margaret makes a reference to Minato from P3. Really, it's a nitpick I have, and that's because I was playing P3P, and I wanted to fuse some Personas but first I had to get rid of some, so I did, and I had to buy them back later, because the only ones I could dismiss were the ones I used in battle, due to the fact that if I got rid of the others, I wouldn't be doing anything useful, because I needed those Personas to fuse the one I wanted. That was a really annoyance while getting that dang Persona. I think it was Kohryu I was trying to get when I ran into that problem. It's small, but really obnoxious.**

**I'm done with Chapter 12 at this point, so I have decided to upload this a bit earlier than I had expected, as a chapter for a chapter rule seems fair to me. The sooner I get the next one out, the better in most cases, right?**

* * *

><p>Chapter 4<p>

After arriving home, Yu removed his shoes and hat. Nanako greeted him happily as she set up dinner; making Yu realized just how later he had been out. That night Dojima couldn't come home for dinner, only arriving a couple hours afterwards. Yu went upstairs after Dojima returned, working on his translating job for about 45 minutes, and spending another 30 on the model. By the time he was done with that, it was getting late, so he decided to turn in for the night.

* * *

><p>(Velvet Room)<p>

"Welcome to the Velvet Room." Igor greeted him. Yu had been summoned to the limo known as the Velvet Room once before, on the train to Inaba to be warned about an impending danger. Yu hadn't quite believed him until he had grown the ears and went into the TV for the third time.

"I see that you have acquired your powers." Margaret spoke after Igor finished saying that he was really asleep. "The thing that you should know is that your Personas will get stronger the more and stronger your bonds with people become." Yu thought it sounded a bit ridiculous, choosing an anti-social kid to bond with others. "Another thing is that you have the ability of the Wild Card. It allows you to wield multiple Personas. We offer you a service that allows you to fuse the Personas that you gain along your journey."

"Yes," Igor started his part of a seemingly well-planned out speech. "You can only have so many Personas with you at a given time, however. We are sorry for the inconvenience, but it would be better for you not to be swamped by the almost alarming amount of Personas that are available to you."

"Our friend Marie," Margaret said, looking over at an unoccupied spot, "Is off for a moment today, but tomorrow, she will be back, and she will allow you to manage your Personas that you have, swapping the ones in use. The previous visitor to this room complained to us that he had to fuse or dismiss Persona's to get ones that he wanted for fusion, then he had to buy them back, and he found that rather annoying. However, my sister gained quite a bit of money from that process. The visitor was not amused."

Igor's already smiling face smiled some more. "Tomorrow, we will give you another long speech about another power that you have. It relates to the Demon Powers."

Before Yu could ask about the strange powers that he had, he was thrust out of the Velvet Room, waking up in the real world, with his alarm beeping at him to wake the hell up.

* * *

><p>(Saturday) (24th)<p>

At school, Yosuke was looking nervous, pacing around, when Yu walked into the room, wearing a hat that looked to Yu like it had a slight bulge at two points on the top. When Yosuke saw him, he walked forward, dragging him into the bathroom. When Yosuke was sure no one was inside the bathroom, he ripped the hat, revealing that Yosuke had the same cat-like ears, only a pretty orange and green tie-dye.

"What am I going to do?" Yosuke asked him.

"OK, calm down, first off, do not take off the hat, later we will go to Junes, and get a hat that won't bulge from the ears. Second, do you have a tail?" Yu asked him. Yosuke looked confused, but slowly, a tail appeared from behind him, same as Yu's, and it had the same pattern as his ears. "OK then, what works for me is wrapping it around my waist. I think that anyone who sees it thinks that it's just a furry belt, so I don't complain. At lunch, follow my lead and I will get someone who knows about my ears."

Yosuke nodded, saying, "I'm counting on you to help me," and put his hat back on, wrapping his tail around his waist, though taking the care to pull his shirt over it as they walked back out the bathroom. Before Yu could take a step, time seemed to freeze as he was informed that he had formed a Social Link with Yosuke, now getting a boost when creating Magician Persona.

The two got any earful from King Moron about wearing hats in class, which Yu was used to already, but he didn't make them take them off. The rest of the teachers also gave them a bit of a lecture about not looking like they cared while wearing the hats, but also didn't require them to remove the covers.

As soon as the bell rung for lunch, Yu was walking out the door with Yosuke following not far behind. At the bottom floor, Yu walked up to Naoto. "We have a problem." He stated simply.

Naoto looked at Yosuke, noticing the hat, and the slight bulge. "Don't tell me…" Yu nodded, and she sighed, before dragging them outside. "Let's see them." She told Yosuke, looking around to make sure no one could see. Yosuke sighed and removed the hat. Naoto stared at them for a second, before sighing and removing her hat, resting it on his head. "Your hat shows off the fact that the ears exist. I want my hat back by the end of the day, but for now, wear it."

She told out her phone, Yu seeing over her shoulder that she was calling his uncle. After a minute, she came back, telling Yosuke that they would get him a hat later, and return to the Dojima residence afterwards.

* * *

><p>(A couple hours later…)<p>

The three had bought Yosuke a hat that was like Yu's, only with a color scheme that matched his ears. For a while on the way to Yu's home, they debated on telling his parents. Yosuke told them that if it was necessary, he would tell his parents about his ears and tail, but would otherwise keep them a secret.

After entering the house, Nanako just about demanded to see the ears, at which point Yosuke removed his hat, and allowed Nanako to play with his tail. Dojima examined the ears, reaching the same conclusion as with Yu. He had no clue where they came from, or how they attached themselves to his head.

Finding that they would gain nothing from the new case of demon ears, the group all sat down for some dinner. It was quiet lively, as there were five people instead of three. While eating, the news was on; talking about a murder. The victim had just appeared dead in an alleyway a week or so ago. While they didn't say who was dead, Dojima and Naoto revealed it was Ms. Yamano, a local reporter. After that, it jumped to an interview with Yukiko. She wasn't the happiest with the whole thing.

After they had finished, Yosuke gave Yu his cell number, then he and Naoto went home, returning the house to its more peaceful state. Yu retreated to his room after finding out that it was raining, calling Yosuke to confirm that he would watch as well. After getting off the phone, Yu realized that he had another couple hours, so he sat down, and at the beginning of 10 o'clock, Yu finished the model that the man had requested him to do. 30 minutes before 11, he finished the section of translating he had been given upon accepting the job. 5 minutes before the Midnight Channel was to come on, Yu stopped working on origami cranes, glad that the time was almost upon him, as otherwise, he would have run out of paper. He had about 2 large crates worth of the things.

Yosuke called him up to make sure that he was awake, and then hung up, agreeing to call if something interesting came on. What did come on was far past 'interesting.' Yukiko had appeared, proclaiming that she would 'score herself a hot stud,' before running off into a castle. Yosuke called Yu barley a second after the TV turned back off. He decided to call Chie after remembering that he didn't possess Yukiko's number, and agreeing to meet with Yu at Junes the next day. (Sunday)

* * *

><p>(The Velvet Room)<p>

"Welcome once again to the Velvet Room." Igor greeted his with his still smiling face, his mouth seemingly unmoving.

"As my master said yesterday, tonight, we will tell you about your Demon Powers." Margaret informed him.

"Strangely, it appears that several Arcana have been locked away for you." Igor continued the speech, once again seemingly well-planned. "Those of the Devil, Death, Hanged Man, Jester, and Moon Arcanas have strangely become unusable in your current form. If you form bonds with the people that will allow the fusions of those Personas, you can still fuse them, but they will occupy a different part of you."

"Marie can explain them more in depth, if she is in the mood, and when she returns, but basically, you can only use Personas of those Arcana while using the Demon form that you utilized to kill your friend, Yosuke's, Shadow." Margaret told Yu.

"Hang on," Yu stopped the two before they could say anything else. "Why the hell could I use Izanagi then if I can't use a Persona of the Arcana I think he is?

Igor frowned, a rare spectacle in Yu's eyes. "That is a bit of a mystery to us as well. It could just be because you wouldn't be able to finish the Shadow off yourself."

"We will see you again, hopefully tomorrow." Igor finished, before forcing Yu out of the room, waking him. He found that his alarm wasn't beeping at him this morning, which he was quite grateful for.

* * *

><p>(The next day…) (Sunday) (25th)<p>

Yu, Yosuke and Chie met up at the food court. Chie told them that Yukiko was gone, and Yu confirmed that as well, as he had met up with Naoto on the way over, and she said that Yukiko has been reported as kidnapped. The group feared for their friend, so Yu thought that maybe Teddie had an idea, considering she appeared in a strange area that looked like the TV world, not that the others knew what it looked like without fog. According to Chie, it was so foggy that she could barely see the Yukiko on the screen. Yu and Yosuke had no trouble with their Demon Powers, however.

"Speaking of Teddie," Yosuke began talking about the strange bear. "What is up with him? Who controls him? What human could live there for so long?"

"Actually, he is completely free of humans inside of that costume. In other words, he's empty." Yu answered, earning two people staring at him with gaping mouths.

"He's empty, as in, there isn't anything controlling him?!" Chie asked.

"Yeah, I found that out with the strange enhanced senses that came with the ears and tail." Yu responded.

"Right, anyway, we need some weapons if we are to go in there again, I saw what was up with the Shadow creatures." Yosuke said.

"OK then, I know a really good place for that." Chie said. As the group got up, Yu was given the Investigation Team (AKA Fool) Arcana. Yu could only guess that was what the team would start calling themselves.

* * *

><p>(Ten minutes later…) (Because Yu wanted to drop off the completed jobs and get some more paper.)<p>

"Good God Yu, couldn't all of that stuff wait?" Chie asked, earning a blunt 'no' as a response. "Anyway, we're here!"

The group stood in front of Daidara's Metalworks, which, according to Chie, was the best weapons smith there was within a couple hundred miles of Inaba. They walking in and talked to Daidara for a minute, and Chie picked up her stuff, that she apparently requested a week or so ago, all wrapped up in a nice package, and then she left, leaving the boys with 1,000 yen, whatever money that Yu had earned, and a crap ton of weapons lying around.

Yu picked up an imitation katana for himself, and started looking at short-range weapons for his Demon Form, knowing it would be more natural for him to not wield a long sword in a beast mode. He decided to use dual claws that were longer and sharper than his nails. They covered his hands and wrists as well, protecting them. Yu then considered the fact that he would likely get hurt in the other world, so he looked through the armor to find something that suited him. He paid for the items, and looked at Yosuke, who was testing out two different pairs of knives. After he decided, Yu whispered to him about the beast form, and pointed Yosuke to look at the short weapons. He picked up lighter versions of Yu's, as he was going for speed to make up for the fact that he was rather weak physically, picking up armor as well. Yu gladly paid for Yosuke's items as well, as he had money to burn, and they walked out the store, Chie texting them to meet back at the food court.

* * *

><p>(Back at the food court…)<p>

Chie was waiting for them in the normal table that the group had pretty much claimed over time. (About three times, I believe now… I'm not keeping track, and am not going back to look.) Chie got up as they approached, walking to the TVs at the electronics, not waiting for the boys that were still a ways off. The boys caught up, and they all entered the TV.

* * *

><p>(Inside the TV…)<p>

Teddie was standing there, almost like he had been waiting for something to happen. "Hey there you guys, I think someone fell in here, but Shadows aren't allowing me to get close so I can let her out." He told them as they landed on the platform, with a smile on his face for reasons unknown to the humans.

"Can you help us get to her Teddie?" Yu asked him, gaining a wider smile from the bear.

"Well if I do, you have to fight, and you also have to promise to help uphold the peace of my world." Teddie said smiling a tad bit too much for the humanoids' enjoyment now.

"What are we, the Knights of the Kingdom of Teddie?" Yosuke asked acting like Teddie was an annoying king that he had the misfortune of getting helped by, now having to repay the debt.

"Sure!" Teddie replied, still being all too cheerful. "Now then, follow me, loyal knights of the Teddie Kingdom!"

Yosuke groaned. "I didn't mean that literally, stupid bear." He muttered the last part to avoid Teddie yelling at him about being kind to the king or some nonsense.

"Good job, it appears that he now believes that he is medieval royalty." Chie thwacked Yosuke on the head, causing Teddie to go into a rant about being kind to her fellow knight, unless he really deserved it or "King" Teddie authorizes it.

Teddie started making up random rules and such that the group would have to uphold, but they just smiled and nodded like they cared, even though they didn't. The first order of business that Teddie decided, at Yu's request, would be to find a safe spot for the team's weapons and hats, as they didn't want to drag the weapons back and forth through the Junes TV, as they barely managed to get through with the large objects undetected, and didn't want to lose the hats while they were off wondering in the TV.

After that was decided, Teddie finally walked them down to the castle that had appeared on the Midnight Channel. Along the way, Teddie got lost, and they ended up in front of a door. Taking a chance, Yu walked inside, only to a very disturbing room, which had a noose in the middle, and posters of Ms. Yamano that had the faces ripped out. Yu backed up, saying, "I think we shouldn't be here. Teddie, can we continue on." Teddie quickly agreed and ran off with the others in tow.

When they arrived at the correct destination, Yu and Yosuke requested that Teddie would hold their hats, and it was because of Yu being Teddies' "Favorite Knight" that he did so. As the four were about to walk in, Chie got impatient and ran ahead, out of sight in no time.

The rest of them sighed, and ran forward. Yu kicked open the door to the castle, momentary standing dramatically standing like in a movie. Hands clad in metal, katana gripped in one hand, Yosuke standing next to him, metallic hands holding his kunai. They darted forward, hacking and slashing through all of the Shadows that threatened them, gathering things from treasure chests, and finally reaching the floor that Chie had stopped at.

In front of her was a Shadow Chie, and it was stating that Chie was obsessed with dominating the relationship with Yukiko, also saying that Yukiko wouldn't even be her friend if it wasn't for her looks and low self-confidence that made her rely on Chie. Chie, naturally, claimed that the Shadow was lying, and told that it didn't know her because it wasn't her. As it was in the Shadows nature, the other self changed to a humanoid creature sitting on top of three others, showing off the whole "dominating over people" thing that was going on.

Yu sighed as he dropped the katana, and flexed his clawed hands a little. He asked Yosuke to cover him while he went into the beast mode, which required quite a bit of concentration at the moment. As he started to call forth the power, Yu muttered under his breath that he hoped the process would get easier later.

Finally feeling the energy coarse through him, Yu shot forward, slashing and hacking with his weapons, and everything else was composed of things that an animal would do. Yosuke jumped back, starting to tap into his inner animal.

Yu raised a hand, intending to summon Izanagi. When the card floated in front of him, there were no Arcana. Yu was surprised, and he heard a voice in his head, probably Margaret, say, 'Izanagi is unavailable when you are in the Demon Form, remember? You don't have a Persona that you can use currently.' Yu swore and released the form, summoning Izanagi, while he ran to retrieve his katana.

As he picked it up, Yosuke shot past him, with his Persona at his side, as he couldn't have multiple Personas, allowing him to use the normal one. Yosuke and Jiraiya tag-teamed the Shadow, taking away a large chunk of its life, which the boys could see like it was a video game, but Yu didn't _think_ that it was because of the Demon Powers. Yu and Izanagi ran forward to fight as well, the combined might knocking the creature down. They all piled onto it, and because Yu wanted to be cool about it, he entered the Demon Form once again, and made the Shadow say hello to the bottom of his foot. The creature melted away in a black goop, the Shadow Chie slowing standing up out of it, a light red mark on her face from where Yu kicked her.

Chie stared at the Shadow as Yu and Yosuke pulled out their nail clippers, conversing to each other about how they would have to buy her a hat, and also about how they should really only clip their nails before exiting the TV. Shadow Chie walked up to the real one, asking forgiveness for trying to kill her, but it was only saying the truth that needed to be heard. Chie hung her head, saying, "Yeah, you're right. I hate to admit it, but it really is true, isn't it? I guess I do kind of control Yukiko, but now that I know, I can work on that, and get her to be more independent." Shadow Chie nodded happily, knowing that she had played her part long enough. She floated off the ground, and transformed momentarily into a female samurai, possibly from the time of the Genpei War. Like the other Personas, she then became a small glowing ball that phased into her chest.

Chie collapsed and the boys sighed as Yosuke picked her up, luckily not getting smacked for the action, while Yu looked through the things that he picked up in the dungeon. Throwing up a small item, it burst and poured over them, and suddenly they were back at the entrance. Before they left, Yu kindly asked Teddie to keep an eye on the weapons that they had to leave behind to avoid getting thrown in jail for carrying the things around. Teddie told them he would, but to hurry back, as he would get lonely otherwise. Yu jumped through the TV to avoid answering that, not wanting to drag the conversation on.

* * *

><p>(In Junes…)<p>

The boys immediately walked over to the hats, telling Chie that she would probably get the ears now that she has a Persona. Chie looked through the hats as the boys fed her information about keeping the Demon Powers secret. Chie picked out her hat, a yellow and white one, which confused the boys, as there were many other colors, but she just walked away, ignoring them. They paid for the hat, and walked out the supermarket, walking their separate ways when the time came.

* * *

><p><strong> Alright, that's done. Also, please note that after Persona Q comes out (I preordered the Premium Edition.) I will probably not update this until I'm all Persona Q'ed out. That will take at least a month. That's what I get for wanting to play as Yu though, as I don't have a PS anything. (except PSP, for Persona 3) I'm really glad it's coming for the 3DS. I might have been tempted to scream if it came out for the *new* 3DS, or the Vita, because I really want it.<strong>


	5. ()Shadow Yukiko and the Ensuing Persona

**Alrighty then, this chapter has finally come, and it took a long time to make Chapter 13, remember the make a chapter, upload a chapter rule. Yeah, that accidently went a little longer than I had thought, so now it's coming out at 1:15. I thought it would come at around 9 o'clock. Maybe. Whatever. Chie. Persona. Ears. Tails. Yukiko. Shadows. Go.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 5<p>

(Around 6 in the morning…) (Monday) (26th)

Yu woke to the sound of his phone ringing. He blindly moved his hand around looking for it, until his hand hit in, and he opened it, finding that it was Yosuke calling. (Not that anyone else would call him.)

Pressing the answer button, he brought it to his ear, saying, "Hello Yosuke, what do you need?"

Yosuke sighed, "She has them."

Yu sighed as well. "Good thing that we bought the hat." Yosuke agreed and hung up. Yu rolled out of bed, knowing that he wouldn't get any more sleep, so he might as well get ready.

* * *

><p>As Yu walked down the road to the school, Chie ran up. "I'm assuming that Yosuke told you?"<p>

Yu looked at her briefly, noting the hat, before returning his attention to the road. "Yeah, he got me up early to say, 'She has them.' I told him it was good that we bought the hat early then, he agreed, and hung up.

"You didn't have to tell me about almost all of your talk with him." Chie told him.

Yu smiled. "I might as well, right? Anyway, I was talking to my uncle and Naoto, and they aren't making any headway with the strange murder that took place a week or so ago blocking them, so we are stuck with wondering what is going on with them until they are free."

"Yeah OK then, I think I can deal with these things long enough. They're a pretty yellow and white, which I find weird because my hat happens to be the same colors." Chie then remembered something. "Hey, we will rescue Yukiko today, right?" Yu looked at her and nodded as they finally arrived at the school. Yu was then informed that he created a Social Link with Chie.

* * *

><p>After school, Yosuke went with Chie to get the short weapon for the beast form. Yu stayed outside, and while the others were curious as to why, they didn't ask. As soon as they were gone, Yu ran over to the glowing door not far away. He entered it, and was greeted by Igor. Yu had gotten a Persona or two while on the dungeon hunt, but nothing that he could use with the Demon Form. He had a light chat with Igor about it, but got a 'keep trying' response.<p>

He sighed, and decided to fuse two of the Personas that he had gotten in the dungeon. Instead of getting the Persona that he was said to get though, a Mokoi, a Death Arcana Persona that was higher 'level' than Yu, came out through a fusion accident. Igor looked at the Persona with interest, saying, "I didn't think that it was possible, but you have summoned not only a different Persona, but one of the Death Arcana, and stronger than you as well. Be careful using him, he might just bite you in response to someone weaker than him trying to control him."

Yu looked at the Persona as well, saying, "I'll be careful then." He then left the Velvet Room, reaching the shop that his friends had entered right as they walked out. Yu smiled and told them, "Let's go, I just got a new Persona I want to try out." The two non-Wild Cards looked at each other in confusion, but shrugged and walked with Yu to the TV.

On the way, Yosuke started talking. "You know, while we were shopping, we suddenly realized that Chie attacks with her legs, so it was worthless to get her any new weapons." Yu stopped walked, and his face contorted in confusion, then he shook it off and continued walking, not questioning why they didn't remember that earlier.

* * *

><p>(Inside of the TV…)<p>

Teddie opened his mouth. The others were gone as soon as they could pick up their weapons and run.

* * *

><p>(Yukiko's castle…)<p>

Teddie was annoyed at the Demons/humans for running off, not talking to them as he held their hats while they ran around fighting through hordes of enemies. They ran into a couple snags along the way, but managed to get past them. Finally, the only thing that stopped them from getting to Yukiko was a door.

Yu looked at the others and told them to be prepared as he pushed on the door. It opened with a slight creak, and they walked into the large majestic room, hearing the beginning of the normal (by now) spiel about how Yukiko wanted to run away from Inaba, from the inn her family ran, but couldn't, needing someone to help her. (A 'Prince') She also said some mean things about Yukiko's inn. She said that it was, "A worthless building that surprising hasn't been torn down by now. How could it be the best that the town has to offer? You agree with me, right, me?"

This, of course, made Yukiko rather mad, and she wholeheartedly disagreed with her other self, saying, "What do you know? You're just wearing a mask that makes you look like me! How could you, a mere imposter, possibly know anything about what I think about my family's inn, or what I want out of my life?!"

Shadow Yukiko stared at Yukiko blankly. "So, you are saying that I couldn't possibly be you? I'm not you?" It asked her with a hint of sadness in her voice.

"Of course you aren't, you imposter!" Yukiko yelled at the Shadow in a rage.

The Shadow hung her head. "Do you want to see what is under this mask that I wear?" She asked Yukiko as she transformed into a phoenix.

The team ran forward, Chie telling Yukiko to get out of the room until they give the OK. Yukiko nodded, frightened, and ran out the door. Yu called forth his Demon Powers, slowing getting better at controlling it, and jumped at the Shadow. With the increase in strength granted to him, he latched onto the Shadow's feathered stomach, it closing itself inside its cage, shaking around, ramming him painfully against the bars. Yu carefully reached out a hand as the Shadow momentarily stopped shaking around, and called forth the Persona Mokoi to attack the phoenix while it was still inside the cage.

He had used the Persona once, and it had been a tad bit disobedient, but it wasn't anything that Yu couldn't handle in the end. He just hoped that it wouldn't refuse to fight during this rather critical moment.

Yosuke suddenly had a great idea, whispering it to Chie. He called out to Yu, saying, "Sorry buddy!" Yosuke told Chie to freeze the lock on the Shadows cage, trapping him, the phoenix, and his Persona inside. Yu reached out, crushing a card that caused the Persona to use a magic attack. He had intended it to fire off a Hysterical Slap attack, but it chose then to be rebellious. It performed a Dekaja instead, although that did nothing to help. Yu growled in annoyance as he called out to his friends to break the lock back open while Shadow Yukiko started to flail around again.

Chie did so rather quickly, and the Shadow burst out of the cage that had held it. When it did so, Yu was flung off the bird's stomach, landing on the cold hard ground with a 'thunk.' Yu released the Demon Form, and summoned Orobus, a Persona he had somehow fused, which was resistant to fire attack, making it an ideal ally for the fight. The Shadow threw a fire attack at him, but it just bounced right off his chest because of the invisible protection. Yu summoned a card that he crushed in his hand, making the Persona perform a Hysterical Slap, which achieved the result that Yu had wanted from his Death Persona.

While the attack looked like it hurt the creature, it was far from taking in down. The Shadow then called out to thin air, requesting that her 'prince' come and help her. A Shadow that looked quiet comical, like it was attempting to imitate a prince, and was doing so rather badly, came to answer the bird Shadow's call, appearing out of nowhere.

Yu looked at it, and guessed that Izanagi would be helpful, calling the Persona forth and hitting the creature with a Zio spell, which knocked it down. Chie then used her Bufu spell and knocked the phoenix off of its perch. Yosuke smiled and said, "Alright, they're down, let's pile on them and take them down!"

Yu looked at his friend, and simply nodded, rushing forward, entering the Demon Form. Yosuke did so as well, and Chie followed, although not using her Demon Form due to knowing it would take too long to enter it, and that if she did, then the opponents would get back up before she could muster up the energy. They beat down on the creatures while Teddie yelled at them in the background, not stopping until Shadow Yukiko pushed them away with her rather large wingspan.

What the group had achieved was rather impressive. Shadow Yukiko was slouching at her perch, and her so-called 'prince' ran away in fright as soon as it got back up. Shadow Yukiko stared at it as it started to disappear in a strange way that Shadows could, and called out to it. "My prince, why are you leaving? These peasants cannot defeat you!" The prince was gone before she could finish her sentence.

The Shadow continued to stare in shock until she was smacked by Yu and Yosuke still in the beast mode. Somehow Yu had found an amazing way to sneak around unnoticed until the right timing presented itself. Shadow Yukiko exploded in a burst of feathers, and the rest (Perch, chandelier) blew up like a bomb.

Under all of the feathers was where Shadow Yukiko emerged, quiet calm despite the rage that she had been in a minute ago. She watched, her face blank, as Chie ran to get Yukiko. Yukiko slowly walked into the room, staring timidly at her Shadow, but also had an air of determination.

She walked up to her Shadow, and her other self cringed when she came up, expecting to hear something harsh that didn't relate to denying the poor creature, but was just as bad. Instead of what the Shadow was expecting, Yukiko looked down and said, "You know, I was thinking while you guys were battling." Shadow Yukiko looked up at her in shock. "You're right. I want to get away from Inaba, but I don't know how, and I want to get someone to help, to act as my prince. If anything I want to not have my life mapped out for me."

Shadow Yukiko smiled, nodding her head in happiness that Yukiko understood what she was trying to show to her. Yukiko's other self then floated in the air like the other Shadows and transformed into a pink woman who had a helmet and a feather-sash (something like that) attached to her hands. Like all of the other Personas, this one was no different in turning into a ball, and floating into Yukiko's chest.

Yukiko smiled for a second, and then collapsed in a faint. Yu knelt down and helped her up. "Good job my knights!" Teddie called out to the group.

Yosuke groaned. "How long are you going to keep up the 'king' act? That was a joke I made a couple days ago!"

The group sighed, and Yu asked Yosuke to look in his pockets to find a Goho-m. After a minute, Yosuke successfully located the item, and they were back at the exit TVs. The group set down their weapons, and got their hats back from Teddie, before leaving the world.

* * *

><p><strong>I believe this might be the point where things get a little lazy. I could be wrong and have pasted that already. I'm not re-reading these over too much before uploading them, so that can lead to some small errors and whatnot. Also, Yukiko was strong, or something related. I don't know why I did that, I just did.<strong>


	6. ()Dojima Wants His Random Crap!

**Alright then, next chapter! I got bored when making this I think, so there is this really random half of the chapter that revolved around Dojima making them get some random crap. Don't ask me what he wanted though. Even I could come up with a good answer for that, and I'm the one who made the scene to begin with!**

* * *

><p>Chapter 6<p>

Yu landed on the floor of Junes, sighing in relief that they had saved the girl that had disappeared. After Chie and Yosuke came out the TV, they started to head to the Amagi Inn, only to run into Naoto. "Isn't that Yukiko Amagi?" She asked.

"Yes well, I can only guess, but it appears that she said, 'Screw this noise! I'm going to go live at Junes!'" Yu said, badly imitating Yukiko's voice.

"How insulting, I don't sound like that! I don't, right Chie?" Yukiko yelled, not happy that she woke to Yu's bad imitation of her.

"I'm sure if Yu-kun tried, he would have done a much better job Yukiko." Chie answered.

"Moving away from that…" Naoto tried to drive the conversion away from Yu's bad acting skills. "What are you doing here?"

"Nothing much, just hanging out, when we ran into Yukiko, who for whatever reason fainted on us, so we decided to take her back to the inn. What about you?" Yu answered.

Naoto sighed. "Turns out helping with your "special cases" has caused me to become your uncle's personal off-duty assistant."

Yu sighed as well. "Yeah that will happen." He turned to his friends, and started to whisper. "We can't let her know of how people get the Demon Powers. I will go with Naoto, and you guys get her a hat." Yu pointed to Yukiko. He turned around and asked Naoto, "Would you like some company on your journey for whatever my uncle has forced you to go get?"

Naoto smiled. "Sure, he wants a lot of things actually, so I guess we should split up." She pulled out a rather long list. The group gaped at the amount of things that Dojima wanted.

Yu looked over the list, ripping it in half. "I'll get these things. You take the other half. Whoever finishes first sends a text to the other, OK?"

Naoto nodded. "That is fine by me. Honestly though, what does he want all of this for anyway?"

Yu shrugged and walked off in search of the first item on the list. The rest of the eared crowd walked off with Yukiko following.

(About an hour later…)

Yu had finally collected all of the things on his half of the long list. He pulled out his cell, with some difficulty because of the large bags that he held as he walked to a bench. Sitting down, he typed a message to Naoto. "I'm finally done with my half of the list. How close are you?"

He sent it, and then leaned back on the bench. About a minute later, his phone dinged, and he looked at the message. "Almost done, though I never really appreciated how strange these items are until I had to pick them up. The hell?"

Yu smiled. She obviously wasn't very happy with this task that she was given. "I don't know what is up with them. Want some help?" He replied.

A couple minutes later, Yu got his answer. "No real reason for that now, I'm almost done. Where are you?"

Yu looked around, realizing that he had no idea how to describe where he was; as he was located in the far corner of Junes that almost no one except the employees that worked there knew existed. He sighed and replied, "In a galaxy far, far away."

"What?" Yu chuckled at the response, knowing that he had successfully confused his friend.

"I'm in a far corner of the store that no one is aware that it exists, so let's just meet at the food court, I'm hungry." Yu started gathering his items, moving for the nearest elevator. About five minutes later, Yu was at the food court, setting down the bags, and running over to get some food.

For the next 30 minutes, Yu and Naoto ate and talked about the strange things that Dojima had requested for. As they started walking back, they decided that they would rather not know unless he offered an explanation.

As luck would have it, Dojima simply thanked them, and walked away to put them in his room. The two looked at each other in confusion, but remembered that they wouldn't question it. Naoto left, and Yu went back upstairs to read a book, but then remembered that he never bought any.

He swiftly started to exit the house, but Dojima stopped him. "Where do you think that you are going? It's a bit late, don't you think?"

Yu turned around. He hadn't expected to be stopped by his uncle; after all, he was in high school. "I just wanted to go get a book; I have nothing to do tonight. Would you rather I watched TV until 10?"

Dojima grunted. "The bookstore is closed, sorry. It closed about a half an hour ago."

Yu looked at the clock, finding that it was 7:30, which would be about a normal time for a bookstore to close. He sighed and walked back upstairs. Closing the door, he sighed and sat down on the couch, pulling out some of the paper that he had bought, making about 10 origami cranes before fatigue deciding to smack him in the face and yell at him to go to bed.

(The next day) (Tuesday) (26th)

After school, Yu decided to join a sports club. He met up with some members, watched them to practice, then went home, having ignited a Social Link. After he returned did he remember that he never got a book, but it was about 6, so by the time he got there, he couldn't choose a book. He cursed, and went back to his room, making a crap ton of cranes that he would sell the next chance he had.

(Time skip) (Friday) (29th)

Yu had made a couple friends over the time that he had spent throughout the week. He had met a girl in the band that he had joined who had some confidence issues, and the basketball team's "manager" who was only there to make up for the fact that she had skipped multiple of her classes. He was a tad bit afraid of her for some reason, so he put off hanging out with her until he could work up his courage.

Tonight, the rain would stop, and the fog would set in, which the group had guessed from what Teddie had told them was the deadline for saving Yukiko. Yu worked on his translating while he waited for the Midnight Channel to come on. They were only doing this to see if there was any form of aftermath, but still, Yu didn't exactly want to be waiting for a blank screen to come on at midnight. What he saw when the Channel did come on was exactly what he had expected, so he just went to bed.

(30th) (Saturday)

After school, the group met up to talk to Yukiko about her appearance on the TV. The best way to describe the answer that she gave was, "How the heck should I know?" It turned out that she had been called to the door because of something, and then she blacked out. They also looked at her ears. They were a light red at the bases, and changed into a light green that reminded Yu of the healing spells used in the games that he played when he was younger.

No one was sure what happened. After scratching their heads for a bit, Yu called up Naoto and told her the story. The most they got out of her was, "Can't help you." So they all gave up for the day and went home.

Dojima was home that day, so Yu couldn't go out, but only after he almost smashed something for forgetting to get a book **again**. Yu sighed and sat down, eating some of his dinner, listening to the family talk. He snapped to attention when Dojima decided that he would be making boxed lunches for a Golden Week vacation. Yu groaned inwardly and agreed. He then rushed upstairs to work on his translating.

(1st) (Sunday)

The next day, Yu pulled out the notebook that he had complied while he was supposed to be studying in school. It told him of the days where his Social Links were available. He didn't have anyone who was free, so he could train, or find another Link to start. So he went to find a Link. He entered the Velvet Room and found a resident that wasn't there the other times that he had been there.

"Good morning, Yu. I see that you are out looking for another Link. Look no more, as she is right here." Margaret welcomed him, pointing to the new person. "This is Marie. We have mentioned her one or two times already, but this is your first time meeting, yes?" Yu nodded. "Well, we would like it if you could take her out and show her the town. She hasn't been too far out yet."

Yu smiled and agreed, walking out the room and awaited Marie. For a couple hours, Yu hung out with the girl, but she was incredibly cold to him, as well as his friends. He learned almost nothing about her, but still got a Social Link regardless. During the night, he did a mix of making cranes and translating as usual.

(2nd) (Monday)

School let out, and Yu had no one to hang out with, so he took to wondering around town. Suddenly, he remembered to buy his book. He ran down to the store and spent a good hour looking at the books, finally deciding that, he had enough money, might as well buy them all. He walked home with a big smile on his face.

That smile faded when he got home and barely had time to remove his shoes before the phone was shoved in his hands. Holding it to his ear as Nanako ran to her room, Dojima spoke. "Listen, I know that we had plans for Golden Week, but something has come up, and I can't do it. I'm sorry, really."

"OK then, but you'd better make it up to Nanako; I think that she might be crying. I didn't get to say a word to her before she ran to her room." Yu told his uncle.

Dojima swore. "Shit, really? Damn it all, get her to calm down and make sure she knows that I'll do something to make it up to her later, OK?" Yu agreed and hung up, knocking on Nanako's door, spending his night making her feel better.

* * *

><p><strong>Yay, Yu remembered to get his book! This is actually because while writing this part, I consistency forgot about it until I got him home, and then I was like, "Well, crap, maybe tomorrow, and this was the chapter that I remembered to get him a book. Oops, but really, I found it at least a bit amusing to have him getting home, then thinking, "Are you kidding me, I forgot AGAIN?"<strong>

**I don't know, that's just me. **

**Anyways, moving on from that random thing that I typed up, mostly out of boredness, I've found that almost everyone and really now, anyone, that reads this doesn't care about the pairings, so I'm going with what Matchmakingdove1028 suggested to me. (Over a private message, so don't think that you will be seeing it in the reviews or something.) Not that I really care if you go on a wild goose chase trying to find something that does exist in a realm that you can see.**

**Anyway, I'm getting off track. HERE ARE THE DECIDED PAIRINGS! **

**Yu and Naoto**

**Yosuke and Chie**

**Yukiko and Kanji**

**And Rise and Teddie (After a while. Rise probably wouldn't just instantly take him as an even decent boyfriend from the start. I know I wouldn't even think about having him around as a friend. His bear puns would get really annoying really fast.)**


	7. ()Golden Week and Days Tacked On

**Alright then, here's Golden Week! (And a random day kind of tacked onto the end) Slowly, it seems that the time to make a new chapter is increasing, but the chapter length is decreasing. I hope that was because I just wrote the scooter part, and I only included two days, with little detail, but still some dialogue. Anyway, have fun...!**

* * *

><p>Chapter 7<p>

(3rd) (Tuesday) (Golden Week-Day 1-Constitution Day)

Yu walked downstairs, finding Nanako watching TV, looking lonely. He then heard the doorbell, so he answered it. Standing there was Chie, who asked him to join her and Yukiko to Junes. Nanako came over to see who was at the door. Yu smiled and said, "Only if Nanako-chan can come as well. Can't have her rotting her brain in front of the TV, can we?"

Chie smiled as well. "That's a good argument. I don't have any objections, and we are only going to Junes after all, nothing special. Why the heck not, she can come."

Yu looked at Nanako. "I think it's been just about decided. Come on Nanako-chan, let's go to Junes." Nanako jumped up in happiness, and Yu took it as a yes.

(Junes)

At Junes, Chie, Yukiko, and Yosuke had gathered at their table, lightly joking around. Somehow, after a bit, Chie, Yukiko, and Yosuke were going to enter a cooking contest. "Nanako-chan will be the judge! I will make something better than anything that you mom could ever cook!" Chie told Nanako.

Nanako frowned a little. "Of course it will be; my mom is dead."

Everyone's mouths fell open. "Oh god, I'm so sorry, Nanako-chan, I didn't know!" Chie yelled.

Nanako looked at her, almost in confusion. "It isn't anything to worry about, I mean, I have my dad after all."

"Yeah, and you have your big bro, too." Yosuke added with a wink.

Nanako thought for a second. "Big bro, yeah, Yu-kun is my big bro!" She got excited. "You are one of the family after all, right, big bro?" She looked at Yu.

Yu smiled warmly. "Yes, I guess I am. Looks like I have no choice but to come back at every holiday I have after the year is over." To this, Yu got a whole lot of replies like 'no duh!'

The group spent a lot of time with Nanako, and finally, they left to go home, as it was getting late. After doing so, Nanako looked in the fridge, and pulled out a dried pickle, which looked like it was growing mold from the looks of it, throwing it on the counter. After they had dinner, when Nanako wasn't looking, Yu picked up the pickle. He ate it whole, gagged and knew then and there that he had the courage to ask Ai out so he could get the darn Social Link. However, he felt incredibly sick as it dropped into his stomach. He muttered to Nanako a quick goodnight, and staggered upstairs, dropping on his futon, falling asleep and having a nightmare about moldy pickles.

(4th) (Wednesday) (Golden Week-Day 2-Nature Day)

After waking up and taking a shower, Yu felt that he needed to hang out with someone to get rid of the pickle nightmare. He walked outside after saying goodbye to Nanako, and walked to the shopping district, at first seeing Marie standing outside the Velvet Room door, and then spotting Chie a couple yards away. He decided to spend his time with Marie.

He got a little more out of her, finding out that she didn't know who she really was, and that Marie was just the name that she had been given by Margaret, which she was irritated by. After that, she ran off in annoyance, and Yu felt that she would be better off after having some time to calm down.

He found that Chie left, so he went home, gathered up his cranes in a box, and sold them. As he walked home, he found Chie, spending some time with her. After she left, he walked a bit more, finding a store that was a bar in the night. He shrugged and walked inside, not having anything better to do.

"What are you doing here, kid?" The owner asked.

As Yu was about to respond, he felt something crawling on his leg. Looking down, he picked a bug off. "You have some bugs." He stated, holding the insect up.

Before the owner could reply, the fish in a tank in the side of the way started darting around, eyeing the bug. "Normally I would kick you out, but you can stay, and even work a little if you give my Akihiko that bug that he wants so much."

Yu shrugged. He didn't have any reason not to, so he dropped the creature inside the tank. He watched as it struggled a little, before the fish darted forward, opening its mouth, releasing a fishhook that was inside, and gulped down the poor insect. Yu pulled out the fishhook. "Why did he have this in his mouth?"

The owner gasped. "Oh dear, I can't believe that he had that! Take it with you, he shouldn't have it, and I don't have any use for it." Yu thanked the lady, and telling her that he would work for a couple minutes at least. She smiled creepily and told him what to do. After he had finished the dishes, he went to tend to one of the people. He picked a random man and listened to his rambling, before taking his glass, washing it, and informed the owner that he should leave. The lady said, "Thank you dear. Come back anytime that you have some free time in the night. We are always open." She then paid him 3,000 yen, and he left, slipping into the house quietly, as he had spent more time than intended, so Nanako was fast asleep already.

(5th) (Thursday) (Golden Week-Day 3-Children's Day)

Yu felt that he was way too bored when he woke up that morning. He thought over the locations that he hardly went to and decided to go to the train station. Over there, he bought a soda, before sighing. "There isn't anything to do here. Maybe that gas station attendant was right. I need to get a job." He started walking home, passing by the entrance to the town's shrine. Feeling that he had nothing better to do, he walked in. It was almost a complete dump though, and it was rusting in plenty of places. "Maybe if I ever get enough money, I will fix this place up a little."

As Yu turned to leave, he heard a howl of a fox, and he spun around, only to see nothing, but there was now a breeze on top of his normally covered head. He turned around again to see a fox with a red apron that held his hat in its mouth. It dropped the hat as if saying, 'Sorry, just wanted your attention.' It then ran away, coming back as Yu finished putting his hat back on. It now held an ema in its mouth. Yu reached out and grabbed the ema, and the fox willingly let go. On it said, "Please heal grandpa's legs." On the back was a leaf.

As Yu inspected the leaf, wondering what reason the fox had for giving it to him, an old man came up, grumbling about his leg pain. Yu turned around to look at him and muttered a hello. While he performed the act, the old man snatched the leaf from his hand. He told Yu that the leaf was that of a rare kind that had magic healing abilities. He kindly asked if he could keep it, and Yu figured that the fox didn't need it, or it had wanted him to give the leaf to the man, so he let the man keep it. He rubbed the leaf on his legs, and somehow that fixed whatever was wrong with them, and the man dumped a bunch of yen into the offering box before running off.

Yu stared, still trying to process what just happened. The fox came back out of the place that it had hid in, and Yu asked it if it had more of those leaves. It nodded, seeming to understand him. Yu then spent the rest of the day working out a deal with the fox so it would help restore their energy inside the TV world. Finally, as the sun set, they agreed on the pricing that the fox demanded. He then obtained the Hermit Social Link.

After Yu got home, he had dinner, and got some swim trunks from Dojima because even though he wasn't a kid anymore, it was fair. Yu them saw another one of those dreaded pickles on the counter. He sighed, pulling out his cell, calling Yosuke. "Hey there bud, what will you pay me to eat a dried-up pickle? I had one a couple days ago, and it was a nightmare."

Yosuke snorted. "Get a picture of it whole, and then take a bite out of it, taking a picture afterward so I know you did it, and I will pay you tomorrow, 2,000 yen."

"Dude, I told you that eating a dried pickle that I think is starting to mold is a nightmare to do. I literally had nightmares about moldy pickles trying to kill me, make it 5,000." Yu argued.

"Hang on, that is a bit much for me, it is only a part time job after all! 3,500 yen, that is in between both of our initial amounts." Yu agreed and hung up, taking a picture of the pickle, front and back. He then took a bite out of it, holding the piece in between his teeth as he took the picture of the now half pickle. That part of the bet done, he sent the pictures, and then swallowed the pickle. He started to feel queasy, so he muttered his goodnights to the Dojimas, and stumbled to his room again. His phone vibrated as he plopped onto his futon, and a message read, "How you doing, if that pickle was as bad as you say."

Yu mustered a smile and replied, "I feel really sick, now leave me alone so I can sleep."

(6th) (Friday)

Yu spent his afternoon with the job that he got at the daycare. He established the Temperance Social Link with the mother (Eri) of a young boy (Yuuta). He then left for his home. At home, he hung out with Dojima finding out that he was only not allowing him out for his protection, as he didn't want him or Nanako to get hurt and not have anyone to find them until the morning or after. They then said goodnight.

(7th) (Saturday)

At school, about 10 minutes before it let out, the power suddenly turned off. Yosuke was forced to go help out at Junes to close down to produce section. After he had left, Yukiko got an idea, and started to tell a ghost story. This freaked Chie out a bunch, and she looked like she wanted to kick her friend in the knee, but refrained from the violence.

Before Yukiko could get into anything really scary, Chie was already shaking, so Yu stepped in. "Um, Yukiko, I don't think Chie likes that you are scaring her like this. I don't think you should continue." Chie was a little offended by the fact that she showed off a weakness like that, but Yu waved it off, saying everyone had some kind of weakness that was probably irrational. She thanked him, and then the power came back on, so the group walked away.

As Yu checked his notebook, he realized that he had no one to hang out with, so he went to the Velvet Room to see if they could help. Short and sweet, they were no help. However, two pieces of paper where lying on the ground, and after Yu read them, he realized that Marie had been writing poems in her spare time. She slapped him and took her papers back when she noticed the fact that he held them.

As Yu walked, he found a sign outside a Chinese restaurant that claimed that anyone that could take down the Mega Beef Bowl would get it free; otherwise it would be 3,000 yen. So far, no one had managed to defeat the dastardly bowl. Naturally, Yu accepted the challenge, and even though he had a rather large stomach, it was way too much for him. He walked home that afternoon with 3,000 missing from his wallet.

In the evening, Yu had to turn down eating dinner because of the Beef Bowl's size left him unable to eat another bite. He had a nice night talking to Nanako.

(8th) (Sunday)

Yu got a call from Chie asking to hang out. Having nothing better to do, he accepted. That morning, he spent his time talking to her, finding out more about her and Yukiko's relationship.

When Yu got home, he found Nanako looking distraught at the table. "Hey there Nanako-chan, what's wrong?" Yu asked his cousin.

"We had to make origami flowers in school today." Nanako replied.

Yu looked at the flowers. They were a little awkward in Yu's opinion, but he made origami for a living at that moment, so he couldn't complain. "What's wrong then? They look good, all things considering."

Nanako shook her head. "No, no, it isn't that. My problem is they are for our mothers for Mother's Day. But," Nanako hesitated. "I don't have a mom to give them too."

Yu stared sadly at his cousin. Then, he had an idea. "Of course you have a mom to give them too."

Nanako looked at him with eyes that had a little hope in them. "Really, but how, my mom is dead."

"Maybe physically, but she is still alive in spirit, right? We can place them at the family altar, and to her, it will be just like you handing them to her." Nanako brighten up, and made Yu make some flowers as well, because he was a part of the family.

When Dojima came home, he saw the flowers, and realized why they were there, smiling at the thought that his kid had been so thoughtful to his dead wife. He also noted that Yu had made some, judging by the fact that it was made with more trained hands for the art.

Yu spent his night taking to Dojima some more. They mostly talked about how kind Nanako was. Yu briefly wondered how the child turned out so good without her father around most of the time.

* * *

><p><strong>Alright, I want Yu to slowly start to understand the fox, but it seems to not do a whole lot because the fox doesn't interact with anyone. Maybe the next dungeon will have the fox pop up and they can hold a conversation. I don't know. Course, you people won't care much until I get there, huh?<strong>

**Anyway, heads up, because for most of the weekend, I'm planning on being at my dad's, and because I don't have a laptop, this story will not be updated at all while I'm there. I actually pains me a bit to be away from my keyboard that long, but I will not get a laptop. I don't want to become my sister, who has a million tabs open while the TV is blaring in the background.**

**Until then, I hope to update at least tomorrow.**


	8. ()Midterms, Slacking, and Kanji

**Alright, mid-terms! Ok, they aren't that good, but hey, Yu meets an adorable white pup. If anyone's played Okami, they might get why it's white. (Hint: Because it's adorable! Has anyone seen Chibi?)**

**On an unrelated note. Adachi Link start! And getting scolded by the two detectives that actually work. And Kanji.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 8<p>

(9th) (Monday)

'Mid-terms start today… What fun with await me when I get to school?' Yu thought sarcastically as he walked down the road. He stopped after he spotted a little bundle of white that was mostly covered in mud. Walking over, he poked it, and it jumped, running away. Yu realized that it was a stray dog, so he offered it some meat that he planned to have for lunch. The dog stole it quickly, and ran away to a nearby tree; chewing on the morsel it had been given. Yu got up, walking away, hoping the best for the poor thing as he ran to school after he noticed that he had two minutes.

* * *

><p>(Time skip) (12th) (Thursday)<p>

Finally, mid-terms had ended, and Yu felt that he literally couldn't have done better. He hadn't studied at all, but the whole time, the answers flowed from his hand like a river. When the unfinished student's papers had been taken away, the group turned in their seats to speak to one another. Mostly the conversation was about how Chie got almost everything wrong, even though the answers had been given it class multiple times, and it was multiple choice questions for a good portion of it.

In the background, groups of students were talking about bikers. Mainly, about a freshman who was a part of them. According to what Yu overheard, he beat up the other members and took over the biggest gang single-handily. They also talked about how a TV crew was coming over to film the bikers, hopefully not getting caught and beat up in the process.

After they were let out of the classroom, Yu decided to go to basketball practice. He spent about an hour or so there, and then hung out with Kou. As it turned out, the young athlete was being forced to quit playing the sport that he loved, all because his adopted family was being bitchy about it. Feeling that he had heard enough about the boy, Yu walked away, finding that the fox from the shrine wanted him to fulfill the requests, and the first was something about how a girl wanted love. Yu agreed to help, and walked home.

At his home, Yu was greeted by his family, Nanako informing him that the fridge had just been stocked. "Hey, um, Yu, do you hang out a Junes a whole lot?" Dojima asked him as he hung up his school jacket and hat.

"Why do you ask? Is there some dangerous criminal suspected of hiding out there, so you want me to stay away?" Yu asked sarcastically.

"You would love that, wouldn't you?" Dojima questioned him. "No, the only one that I want to stay away from that place is Adachi, I think he might be hanging out there, and shirking his duties."

"Tell you what, I will head over there every here and there, and I will make him get up off his lazy ass if he is sitting on it." Yu said, getting a chuckle from his uncle.

"Good plan, just make sure to follow through with it, I don't want to have to send Naoto to slap you both around." Yu cringed, the kid was small, but he didn't want to be on the receiving end of any form of punishment that she would deal out.

Agreeing to not slack off with him, Yu went to the fridge to make some lunch for tomorrow. He settled on making a Meat Stew, and it came out perfectly. Yu knew that he should share it with Chie the next day.

* * *

><p>(Said next day) (13th) (Friday)<p>

While walking to school, Yu was joined by the dog that he had feed the day mid-terms began. Every day, he had fed the poor mutt some of his food, and slowly, it warmed up to him. Now it followed him on the way to school, though only after Yu fed it.

After school let out, Yu walked to Junes. As he and Dojima had guessed, Adachi was hanging out there. Walking up to him, he noticed, and said, "Hey there Yu, what are you doing here?"

Yu kept a blank face as he answered. "I'm here to see if you really were shirking your duties. Dojima requested it."

Adachi swore. "I should have guessed as much. Please keep it a secret from him. I'm supposed to be getting coffee for him."

Yu snorted. "He can be a bit of a handful, can't he? Fine then, I'll hang out with you." Adachi brightened and thanked him. Yu listened as he complained about work and how annoying it was.

After about 15 minutes, the nearby door opened, and Naoto walked in. She sighed, "When Dojima asked me to check Junes to find you, Adachi-san; I didn't think that I would be dragging Yu back with me as well."

Yu stiffened while Adachi looked about ready to go nuts. Suddenly, Adachi said, "Quick hide me!" and hid behind Yu, grabbing Naoto's wrist and pulling her next to Yu. An old lady walked by, and after the coast was clear, Adachi stepped out of the momentary cover. "Thanks, that old hag thinks I'm her son, who has the same first name. She constantly makes me food that I hate, and I've told her to stop, but she doesn't! Fine then, I'll go back, but I need to get the boss his coffee, it might calm his wrath a little."

At the police station, the coffee did calm Dojima's wrath a little, but Adachi still got in trouble for slacking, and Yu still got in trouble for doing exactly what he said he wouldn't do. Yu felt horrible as he walked home that evening, not looking Dojima, who was walking next to him, in the eye.

Nanako greeted the two with a smile, not noticing Yu's sadden expression, caused from being caught. He plopped down at his spot, and turned to watch the news. On it was the special Yu had overheard about. It had less to do with the bikers, but instead focused on one kid who Yu saw had the Yasogami jacket, with the Roman numeral for one on it, meaning that it was the first-year that the school had been buzzing about. The boy seemed to have some serious anger issues. He even told the people to get bent.

"That's Kanji Tatsumi. His family runs the local textile shop. He actually, at least according to the records, beat up those bikers because they were keeping his mother up at night. Talk about a fiercely dedicated son." Dojima said. Yu sighed inwardly because the news was getting boring, and his uncle was rambling. He walked upstairs and fell asleep, tired from the events of the afternoon.

* * *

><p>(14th) (Saturday)<p>

Yu went straight home after school because Chie pressured them to watch the Midnight Channel. Now that he was home, he remembered why he didn't do it more often. He was BORED. He couldn't hang out with Adachi, as Dojima was home, so he was off somewhere, nor could he talk to his eared friends, because they were all home. It was too late to go to clubs, or the daycare. Because he had rushed home, he forgot to do anything about the fox's request as well.

He ran out to see if Marie was available, though she wasn't. Yu sighed and walked to the bookstore, buying some new books, and walked home while reading. Yu read his books, waiting for the time that dinner would be ready, all the while, the news played in the background, and Nanako sang the Junes song annoyingly. When Yu started reading that day, he had four books, two he had just bought, and two he had bought a while back. The book had finished reading when Nanako called out that dinner was ready was the one that Yu had found he wasn't fond of, so he had put it off. Now, he had finished it, and the other three books. Yu swore to himself that unless he had a large pile of books lying around, he would never head straight home again.

The dinner was good, but after he was done, he instantly got up and walked to his room, starting to translate. By this time, he was so good at it that it hadn't been half an hour, and he finished it. Yu growled and went downstairs to finding his paper, muttering some words to Nanako, before stopping and remembering that he could have worked on her Social Link the whole time. He slapped himself a couple times, (Not letting Nanako see, of course) and spent his time with her until she had to go to bed, then he got his paper, and went back upstairs, muttering a goodnight to Dojima. Yu worked on his cranes until he ran out of paper, and then called Yosuke for some company. He was laughed at for being so bored.

When the Midnight Channel finally came on, and the two watched it, finding a silhouette that looked like Kanji, from the size and build of the figure, which Yu pointed out to Yosuke immediately. Yosuke told him to meet at Junes in the morning. Yu agreed.

* * *

><p>(15th) (Sunday)<p>

"It was Kanji, you morons." Yu said when the debate about who appeared on TV started.

Yukiko looked at him in confusion. "You mean Tatsumi, that Kanji?"

"Yes, I saw him on the special two nights before. My uncle told me about him. He beat up the bikers because they were keeping his mother up at night." Yu explained.

They all agreed to keep a watch on Kanji and Midnight Channel. They then went on to what would happen to him. Yu told them about how he had to accept his Shadow. "So, if your Shadow appears on the TV, you enter it?" Chie asked.

"Not quite. I was in a trance, but it was more willing than what happened to Yukiko. I remember what happened to the end. Yukiko was called to the door, and blacked out." Yu pointed out. The group collectively sighed. They were getting nowhere, so they gave up.

That night, the Midnight Channel had no change, so when Yosuke called, he decided to ask questions. "Hey, which is your type, Chie or Yukiko?"

"I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours." Yosuke responded.

"It's a deal, so spill the beans." Yu demanded.

"Fine, if I HAD to choose, it would be…" Yosuke hesitated. "Chie, I guess. If you get on her better side, she is actually quite nice. What about you?" Yosuke answered; a hint of shyness in his voice.

"Well, I have to say, not Yukiko, nor Chie..." Yu said, lightly scratching the back of his neck.

Yu could see Yosuke's eyebrows raise, despite not being even remotely close to him. "Then that means, either you want some super star, whom you don't have any real clue about her real personality, Nanako, or Dojima's new slave."

"I want to avoid a superstar, that would get messy, I'm sure. Nanako's a bit young, and she's more of a sibling than anything..." He trailed off.

"Then that only leaves one girl that I've seen you really engage in a conversation with." Yosuke was prying, and Yu wasn't fond of it.

"Good night, Yosuke." Yu said, and ended the call, Yosuke calling out a little before being cut off. "Maybe I should have just said Yukiko..." He muttered to himself, plopping down on his futon. He got a message from Yosuke reading, "Dude, don't cut me off. I won't say anything to her, but really? You can't talk to me about it?" Yu didn't respond.

* * *

><p>(16th) (Monday)<p>

The group went to the textile shop after Yukiko mentioned that she knew the owner and Kanji as well, though it was when he was younger. After walking into the shop, something caught Yu's eye. It was a familiar looking scarf that he saw Ms. Yamano wearing in the posters that he saw in the room that Teddie led them to on accident. He suppressed a shudder from the strange event, even though it happened a while ago.

Yukiko talked to the old lady for a bit, and then they noticed Yu was looking at the cloth. The lady explained why it was in the shop if Ms. Yamano had one just like it. They thanked the owner for the info and left. They saw Kanji, who was talking to Naoto. They formed a circle, tilting their hats up to allow the Demon ears to hear, having gained the knowledge to do so, and cut off the hearing to their normal ears. They pretended to talk while actually listening. From what Yu understood, she had been given the job of figuring out whether Kanji should be charged with an assault arrest for beating up the bikers. Most likely a task that she had gotten from Dojima, considering that the secret case about the ears and tails has given him almost full control of Naoto's actions.

After Naoto walked away, and getting yelled at by Kanji for blocking the door, the group started talking. "OK, I think we can learn something from listening to what Kanji and Naoto will talk about, even if it's unrelated. How about after school, we split up, and the other group watches the textile shop." They agreed and walked their separate ways.

* * *

><p>(17th) (Tuesday)<p>

After school, the gang went to the front gates were Kanji was standing, hiding outside his view. While waiting for Naoto to exit the school, (As she had enrolled after finding that she was going to be stuck in Inaba because of the Demon case.) they split into groups. In the end, Yukiko was going with Yu, and Yosuke and Chie were stuck together.

Not finding any reason to wait anymore, Yu and Yukiko started walking away, leaving the other two alone to wait. After stopping by the shrine entrance, Yu remembered something important. "Hey, I never got your phone number. I'm missing Chie's as well, but she isn't here anyway." Yukiko smiled as she pulled out her phone, giving Yu the number. He entered it, and marked it under the favorites, and it appeared under Yosuke. Yu then got the Priestess Arcana.

For the rest of the day, the two chatted, and watched the shop, until getting interrupted by Yosuke and Chie who were running away from Kanji, causing them to get caught up in the chase. Finally, they outran the boy, and agreed to just stick to the Midnight Channel.

As it happens Kanji was kidnapped after they left him, evidenced by the fact that his Shadow appeared on the TV that night. He was in a large toy store filled with fluffy animals and the like. "I'm so happy that I can just be surrounded by all of these fluffy animals! See you people later!" He said quickly, before running off, and the TV turned off.

Yu stared at the blank screen, stunned. Yosuke called, but all Yu could do was make some grunts and such, to shocked to say anything. Yosuke just told him to meet up with the group at school tomorrow, and Yu grunted to show he heard it.

* * *

><p><strong>I'm starting to wonder where I was going by making Naoto Dojima's personal assistant when Adachi's gone. When you think about it, it kind of suits his style to do that, but that's just me.<strong>

**Yeah, I changed something in the phone call with Yosuke. Originally, I didn't have a solid grasp on who I wanted Yu to be with, so I just stuck him with Yukiko, but forgot to change this scene when I uploaded it. While at my dad's, it hit me like a sack of potato's that I had to fix that. So now it has been fixed to the pairing that has been decided.**


	9. ()Exams Results, & The Epic Kanji Fight

**Finished a Social Link! Also, exam results! And Kanji's rather strange dungeon. It was a little weird because I had to work around the fact that there was no gender confusion with Naoto, so it ended up with the strange thing that came out. Have fun...**

* * *

><p>Chapter 9<p>

(18th) (Wednesday)

After school, the group agreed that after Yu's basketball practice let out that they would meet up at Junes to discuss the case, and save Kanji.

While walking along, Yu remembered to find the girl wishing for love. He looked at the ema that he kept, and pinpointed the girl. He walked up to her, and talked to her. After a bit, she asked for advice, so Yu told her to just be herself, and not try too hard, otherwise she would hurt herself. The girl smiled and thanked him, walking away.

After basketball practice, Yu talked to Kou, getting him to realize that he shouldn't let his parents push him around when it came to his favorite sport. Kou was very happy to notice this, and handed Yu an **orphanage letter** addressed to him from his real parents that he had received a while back. Yu felt that though he didn't know everything about his new friends, he still knew them enough to max the Social Link, which allowed him to fuse a new Persona the next chance he got.

Yu ran to Junes. Due to the time that he had taken with Kou, they could only ask Teddie if he knew where Kanji was. He seemed to be having trouble though.

"Tell me Sensei-Knight," Teddie spoke, "how do you expect me to care about where some lost kid is if I'm, am going through an identity crisis!?" His voice rose until he was screaming.

Yu wasn't sure whether he should feel bad for Teddie, or to think that he is over-reacting. Regardless, Yu said, "Teddie, please, I swear if you help find Kanji, we will help you in any way that we can."

Teddie stared at Yu. "Fine them, but you have to give me 'til tomorrow to find him. I think my nose is starting to stuff up, so I need some time."

"I didn't think it was possible for your nose to get stuffed up Teddie." Yosuke commented. Turning to Chie, he asked, "Think he has a cold?" Chie shook her head.

The group left the TV, walking to their houses, Yu stopping on the way to report to the fox. Said fox was happy, and stared at the offering box, as it was now a bit more filled. The fox then started to convey a message to Yu. Due to getting better with his Demon Powers, Yu started to understand the fox, and the basic message was, "Thank you, Narukami-san! We are one step closer to getting this place in better shape! As such, I will now offer a discount to the magic leaves that you want my help with!" At least, that is what Yu thought the fox was trying to tell him.

Back at the Dojima residence, Yu decided to hang out with Nanako, who was quite distressed about her mom actually going to Heaven. Yu spent his time explaining everything that he thought that Heaven would be like, which made Nanako happy.

(19th) (Thursday)

"Hey everyone, the exam results were finally posted!" An excited student yelled as he ran into the room.

Chie groaned. "Great," she muttered. "I already know that I am in the BOTTOM 10, and Yukiko and Yu are in the TOP 10."

Yu decided to see the results, even though he had a good idea where everyone scored, Kou included. At the billboard where they put the poster with the outcome for the second-years, Yu saw exactly what he expected to see. Chie and Yosuke were at the very bottom, alongside some other slacker students, Kou and his soccer buddy were in the middle, and Yukiko was second, and Yu took the top spot for his own. Everyone stared at him, impressed.

A nearby student who was also looking at the results muttered, "No one has stolen the top spot from Amagi ever since she came here. You're a talented kid Narukami-kun." Everyone smiled at the comment, and Yu felt that they all looked up to him because of that student.

When school let out, the group hauled ass to Junes. They momentarily stopped by Daidara's though, as Chie had taken the strange materials they had gotten from the TV world, and sold them to the metal expert, who thought they were incredibly fascinating, and could make them some new weapons with it.

As it turned out, he did have some good new items, which Yu unwillingly paid for all of improved armor and weapons of mass destruction.

His wallet now almost empty, Yu walked behind the others to the TV, swearing to himself that after they save Kanji, Yu was going to the daycare more often. They managed to jump into the TV with no one noticing the weapons that they carried with them. They had been given cloth from Daidara that concealed the fact that they were actual weapons, making the process much easier.

Inside the TV, Yu realized that Yosuke must have snuck in a hat rack after the store closed the day before, and also a makeshift weapon rack. They removed their hats, and gave Yukiko some basic instructions on the Demon Powers, while waiting for Teddie to finish finding Kanji.

"I've found him, that Kanji kid! It least, I think that's him." Teddie yelled out.

"Good," Yu said like he was praising a dog. "Now lead us to him."

"Will do, Sensei-Knight!" Teddie exclaimed happily, starting to run off, with the others following behind him.

Less than five minutes later, (but more that 4 and 30 seconds) they arrived at a MASSIVE stuffed animal store, with an overall bright color palette. They all stared at the huge structure for a second before walking inside.

Inside, the floors were multi-colored tiles, and the place was filled to the brim with stuffed animals, and sewing materials. There, they found Shadow Kanji wearing a light purple bunny suit. "Oh welcome!" He greeted them. "I know everything about this place, so if you need anything, just ask! Even though all of the store employees seemed to have left."

Yu stepped forward. "Yes, actually, you can be of some help to us. Do you know of another Kanji in this building?"

The other Kanji smiled. "Well, yes, I do. He is on the tenth floor, but if you want to get to him, I'm afraid that you might want to wait for the elevators to be fixed, they are having some technical difficulties."

"How long until the elevators are running again, do you have an estimate Kanji?" Yu asked.

"About a month," Shadow Kanji stated blandly, like it was a very short time to wait.

"I think that I will risk it with the stairs." Yu said to the Shadow, walking away, confident that the Shadow would appear at the top when the time came. The others followed close behind, and Shadow Kanji actually followed, saying that he was planning on going there anyway, but was going to do so after the elevators were fixed. The creature that had Kanji's hidden emotions started to ramble on and on about the different things that they passed by, annoying the group to no end as they tore their way through the throng of Shadows that tried to stop them.

After getting to the door that stood between them and Kanji, Shadow Kanji dropped to the ground and fell asleep. Yu looked at the Shadow tiredly, and wrote a quick note to it saying they would be back at the same time they arrived tomorrow, before using a Goho-m. The gang gathered the weapons that they were going to sell at Daidara's and left.

After getting home, despite being tired, Yu decided to talk to Dojima for a bit. He offered to make Yu some coffee, so when he asked what he wanted, Yu had to stop and think. Then last time he had coffee, it was a couple years ago, and then, he had filled it with sweeteners because he couldn't stand the natural taste of it. Now, he felt that he could stand the flavor of the coffee. "I think I'll have it black." Yu answered finally.

Dojima smiled and chuckled a little. "It seems to run in this side of the family to like your coffee black. Even Nanako likes it better black."

When Yu got his mug, Dojima briefly apologized. When Yu asked why, he responded with, "That was my wife's mug. I didn't have any more lying around, so, yeah." He ended awkwardly.

After Yu finished his cup, Yu went to work on his next chunk of translating until the coffee's effects wore off, and he crashed.

* * *

><p>(20th) (Friday)<p>

Yu woke up with a crick in his neck, as when he passes out the night before; it had been on his floor while sitting working on his translating. As he walked to school, he was constantly rubbing the back of his neck, which the dog that he had been feeding took notice to, and ran off. Yu stared after it for a minute, and then continued walking until she came back. (He figured that she was a girl because she just had that sort of face.)

She was followed by the fox; who held a healing leaf in its mouth. Yu took it, and the fox looked at him expectantly. Yu chuckled. "I think I should give the money to you in the TV, OK? I don't want anyone seeing and getting any strange ideas about me 'throwing my money to a fox to get rid of it' or anything." The fox nodded, getting the message, and ran off. Yu rubbed the leaf on his sore neck as he started jogging to school.

Once school was over, Yu found that Kanji needed to be saved, but first, Chie was taking the materials to Daidara, so Yu could go to the daycare. During that day, he found out that Yuuta loved Phoenix Ranger Featherman R, so he told that to Eri. She thanked him, and promised to buy him a DVD of it, hoping to close the gap that is between them.

Yu got his pay, and then rushed to Junes, where Yosuke stood outside the TV. He was told of what the group had bought, and then jumped inside where the others were waiting. When he landed, Chie handed him his new sword. He swung it around a bit, before putting it back in its sheath. He then paid the fox, who was still awaiting his money.

The group ran to Kanji's area, they had spent way too much time playing around, and they needed to finish the job. When they teleported to the place they stopped at, they found Shadow Kanji waiting. "I thought you were going to be back sooner!" He whined.

"I'm sorry Kanji, but we got caught up doing other things." Yu said.

Chie jabbed her thumb in his direction. "Yeah, this moron sat staring into space for a good 5 minutes."

"It wasn't staring into space; you just couldn't see what I was really doing!" Yu shouted to her. "Whatever," he muttered, "let's just go get Kanji."

The six people walked inside. Kanji was pacing around, looking as distressed as one would expect when you wake up in a giant stuffed animal store. Upon seeing them, Kanji looked almost overjoyed, but then he saw the other him in a purple bunny suit.

"What the hell are you wearing?!" Kanji yelled to his other self. "Why do you look like a softer version of me?"

"Don't you get it, my friend?" Shadow Kanji asked him. "This is formed from you. This whole place, me, and the suit that I am wearing. Admit it; this place is nice to you. Everyone, girl or guy, would call you some really horrible names because you loved to sew and other things that included soft creatures."

Kanji looked away. "Hell, no, that isn't anything like me! I may have beat up some bikers because they were disrupting my mother's sleep, but that doesn't mean anything. I stopped liking though things a long time ago!"

Shadow Kanji didn't look happy. "You love it, please just admit that. It's for your own good if you do. Also mine, after all, I'm you, and I know what is best." The other Kanji seemed to be trying to accept him peacefully, without a fight.

"Oh hell no, I think this place in nasty! You're me? Ha, no way in hell buddy!" Kanji yelled, and his Shadow looked like it wanted to cry as it turned into a large, bulky something, covered in the purple suit that it had been wearing previously.

Kanji's look turned to one of massive horror, and Yu ran up beside him. "Kanji, get the hell away from here, now," he yelled, and then came the afterthought, "but don't go too far, OK?" Kanji didn't wait another second, and took off screaming like a little girl, flailing his arms around.

Yu sighed at his kid-like nature, and entered the Demon Mode. He jumped at the big creature, clawing at it. Only problem, when his hand made contact, it stuck. Yu's eyes widen. Planted his feet firmly on the Shadow's stomach, he pulled at the hand that was stuck. After that didn't work, he tried to reposition his feet, only to find that they were stuck as well.

"Guys, I'm stuck to his fluffy suit!" Yu yelled, waving his only free arm around comically.

The others ordered their Personas to distract Shadow Kanji while they worked on what to do. Finally, Yukiko stepped forward, saying, "I'm sorry Yu-kun." She then held out her fan, summoning a card, spinning around and slashing it in half. Her Persona floated up next to Yu, and used a weak Agi spell to burn at his hand and feet.

Yu fell to the ground with a light scream of pain, and Yukiko ran up, apologizing. She used the healing spell that had come with Konohana Sakuya. The burns Yu had received vanished, and Yu got back up. "Thanks, Yukiko. I don't know what I would have done if you didn't free me. Now try to burn the Shadow's suit off!"

Yukiko summoned another card, causing Konohana to fire off an Agilao. The Shadow didn't look too happy as the covering burned off, but a moment later, it grew back. Yu growled; they had to find a way around the suit's stickiness. Then, he got a brilliant idea. Don't fight the suit, make it work for you.

"Everyone, stand on guard, and wait to see if my plan works, alright!?" Yu yelled to the group as their Personas ducked and weaved around the Shadow as he thrashed about trying to hit them, and in turn, get them stuck to his hands. Everyone's Personas withdrew as Yu summoned Makami and Sukunda-ed it. Then he summoned Samael, and Matarunda-ed the Shadow.

The Shadow swung at him as he ran forward. Yu rolled under the Shadow's legs and grabbed onto the Shadow's back before he could move. Yu then started to lift with all of his might.

"Woah, I didn't think that the Demon Form gave us extra strength!" Chie yelled with a look of shock on her face.

"But it doesn't." Yukiko said confused and just as shocked as Chie.

"Does that mean he's been working out?" Yosuke asked, looking at Yu upper body.

"No, he is just as scrawny as before." Chie replied; doing the same.

Yu successfully lifted the Shadow off the ground. With a large yell, he swung it towards the nearby wall, the fluffy costume making him stick to it. The Shadow smashed into the wall, probably giving him a concussion. "Get ready!" Yu yelled to the others who were still watching in shock.

They snapped out of it, and readied their Personas. Yu took a couple steps forward, dragging the other Kanji with him. Then he started to swing the creature around again. Instead of smacking into a wall, this time, it was impaled by the group's Persona's weapons. Shadow Kanji screamed in pain, starting to dissolve.

Yu's hands were released, and dropped. Yosuke walked over to find Kanji, who was clearly traumatized, judging from the fact that he was shaking and looked about ready to cry when he saw his Shadow. "Kanji," Yu spoke, getting the boy's attention, "Why did you stop sewing and everything if people were just being cruel to you about it?"

Kanji's eyes moved to stare at the multi-colored tiled floor. "I couldn't take it. People were really mean about how I liked to sew, even though I was raised around an environment that relied on it." Kanji looked up at his Shadow. "So, I became the tough kid. I stopped doing anything that related to sewing and yelled at anyone who taunted me, saying something or another about how I would break them if they continued. At first they didn't believe me, then I started doing everything I could to beef myself up. No steroids though, I just have to get that out there."

Shadow Kanji nodded, starting to continue the story. "Even I stopped, and took myself I hated sewing, I never really could stop loving it."

"So…" Chie started to talk. "You became the guy you are now because you wanted people to stop taunting you about something that you could hardly control?"

"Pretty much," Kanji said, walking up to his Shadow. "Hey, sorry man, you understand my reasoning, right?" Shadow Kanji nodded, and changed into normal Kanji's Persona; a big bulky black skeleton creature holding a lightening bolt. It changed into its ball form and floated into Kanji, causing him to collapse.

The guys sighed, and Yu took out a Goho-m, handing it to Chie. He then assisted Yosuke in helping Kanji back up, his previous amazing strength mysteriously gone. Chie threw up the item, and they were teleported to the entrance of the store/dungeon. From there, they wondered back to the exit TV.

In the normal world, the gang moved Kanji over to the hat store while telling him about the whole, 'You're going to get ears tomorrow thing' and about what might be best to tell his mother. In said hat store, he picked up a yellow, white, and black hat. The others looked at each other in confusion of the combo of colors. Kanji didn't really seem to mind though.

Back at Yu's place, he plopped down on the couch for a second, before deciding to just go to bed early. He groaned when he realized that meant he had to get back up.

* * *

><p><strong>Yeah, so I probably won't update until my four day weekend is over. I think I will be at my father's place for the whole time now that those weirdos that were living with him are gone. Strangely, I think it was his barber that wanted to come live with him for a while after the weirdos that were staying with him got their own house. He wasn't happy and said that he wanted us over. (Me and my sister) It was purely an excuse, but I don't want another person sleeping in my room, even if I don't consider that house a true home, so I'm fine with him using us in that sense.<br>**


	10. ()Random Days With Nanako and Uncle

**Totally one of the longer chapters I have made. Most of it is stuff with Nanako, if I remember correctly. Whatever man. The power went out, so the chapter is coming out _a lot _later than I had intended. On the bright side, finished P3P for the first time, and am now on the girl's side. Loving it as much as the male side, only now I don't have to worry so much about using my Persona at points where it's unnecessary, meaning a lot of the earlier battles. (Really, just put it on Rush, and watch the carnage unfold.)**

* * *

><p>Chapter 10<p>

(21st) (Saturday)

Today, Yu hung out with Marie. It was a rather boring experience. Too boring for Yu, but hey, what can he do if hanging out with her gets him better Personas. They focused on trying to regain her lost memories, which ended in complete failure. Marie was already about to give up, and they had only been searching since today. After dropping the girl off back at the Velvet Room door, Yu ran straight home, no longer wishing to think about the annoying teen.

At home, while looking through the fridge, he spied a Chilled Gulping Melon Cream Soda. It appeared that it wouldn't sit well with him. He thought for a moment. It seemed that everything that he ate out of the fridge as a snack always made him want to barf, regardless of what it was. So, he pulled out his phone and told Chie of his situation. She suggested that he leave it alone unless he plans to make a profit from it like he did with the second dried pickle. He decided that he would just drink it without betting something this time. Luckily, that night he wasn't chased by killer drinks.

* * *

><p>(22nd) (Sunday)<p>

When Yu walked down the stairs to the living room/kitchen, he saw Nanako sitting at the table, staring at a seedling that was sitting on the table. "Good morning," she muttered with a lack of cheer, not lifting her gaze.

"What's wrong Nanako-chan?" Yu asked her, looking at the seedling as well, though it did nothing to inform him of Nanako's plight.

"My teacher wants us to make a garden, but I don't know how. Daddy just said to plant it anywhere, but 'anywhere' is kind of vague." Nanako said, Yu wholeheartedly agreeing.

"Hey, isn't there a small plot of land to the right of the house?" Yu asked, remembering that there was unused earth just lying around.

Nanako looked up at him, curiosity in her eyes. "Yeah, I think there is, but what does that mean in this situation?"

Yu snorted. "You sound like a grown-up. Come on, I think you will understand what I mean when you see it."

The two walked outside, and Yu looked at the patch of ground. It was unused, unloved, and had plenty of potential. Yu smiled as he asked Nanako to come to Junes with him, as he needed supplies.

An hour later, Yu was putting on the finishing touches of the new garden. He told Nanako to go back inside after arrived from the superstore, because he knew that she would be miserable out in the cold. Now he was walking back in, getting hit by a wave of heat as he stepped inside. He called out to his cousin, who ran outside without shoes to see the new garden immediately. She was all kinds of giddy from excitement.

"I want our new garden to have a sign!" Nanako screeched happily, running back inside. Yu watched as she looked around, finding some convenient wood that was already a sign, though it was blank. "Daddy was going to make a sign out of this a couple years back I think, but he gave up or something. I don't remember the details, but when I asked about it, he said I could do whatever I wanted with it."

Yu looked around, finding some paint, and set to work with Nanako to make a sign. Nanako designed it, but Yu was the one to write the words, because Nanako feared that no one could read her writing. Yu didn't question it.

Nanako put up the sign with pride. "Now everyone will be aware that we have a garden!" She said happily. "Do you think the veggies will be any good?"

Yu smiled. "Of course, but only if we work hard, and treat them with respect. You know, I believe that plants can sense that kind of things." Yu wasn't sure if that was true or not, but he just went with it, now that the words came out of his mouth.

"OK then, I can do that!" Nanako said happily, waving goodbye to him as he wandered off to see his Social Links.

Yu felt that Marie really needed to get out of the funk that he found her in. She was really down, and he couldn't just leave her, so he offered to take her to see his school. She shot him a really weird look, but decided against arguing with him, just following as he started to walk away.

At the floodplains, Yu saw Yosuke as he walked along, so he called out to his friend. Yosuke looked around and spotted them, having a nice chat that really was, "Want to accompany us to the school and give Marie some advice?" With Yosuke basically answering, "Sure, why the hell wouldn't I?"

At the school, Yosuke misunderstood Marie when she mentioned the 'room' being cramped, and 'The Nose' not talking much. He thought that the classroom was cramped, because the big city that she apparently came from had cramped rooms, and 'The Nose' was an anti-social teacher of sorts. Course, she was calling the Velvet Room confined, and Igor anti-social. Considering the fact that he constantly tells Yu to work on his bonds, Igor should be taking his own words to heart.

Marie left to see more of the school. Yu and Yosuke had a short exchange, then left to find the missing teenager. They found her quite easily, standing on the rooftop. They confused her with some really random sounding stuff about finding her true self and to make memories with the people around her, then left to finish the tour.

After dropping her off, Yu spent the rest of the night with Dojima.

* * *

><p>(23rd) (Monday)<p>

At school, King Moron was in a VERY grouchy mood. He must have seen the newspaper from a couple days ago, because he started ranting about how Kanji deserved to have been kidnapped since he was a rotten this, and an annoying that. He also threatened to expel everyone in his class.

While the teacher was ranting to some poor innocent student, Yu leaned over to Chie. "Hey, do you know of any snacks that don't taste like snacks?"

"Yeah, I do, but why?" Chie responded.

"Remember the fox that comes with us into the TV? When I met him, I struck up a deal with him. Fulfill the shrine's ema's, and he will give us discounts on the magic leaves." Yu explained.

Chie smiled. "Oh, so you just want to complete the next request that the fox gave you?" Yu nodded. "Alright then, I think I have something that is perfect." She started to dig around in her pockets, finally producing three sticks of gum, the wrappers reading, "Meat flavored!"

Yu took the gum, and put them in his pocket. "Thanks Chie, I hope the girl likes it." He sighed happily, unfortunately catching the attention of the King of Morons. He started to rant about talking while the teacher is talking. (Even though his rant was kind of pointless.)

After that bothersome near-complete waste of time, Yu walked to Junes with Yosuke, dropping off the gum to the girl, who was very happy with the snack he had brought, and then she ran off to drop off her offerings. When they got to the supermarket, they took a seat at their normal spot to talk before Yosuke had to work. As they chatted, some really annoying girls came over to yell at Yosuke about their schedules, even though Yosuke couldn't do anything.

After they left, Yu sighed and tried to comfort his friend. He brightened slightly, and then spotted someone some way away. He called out to her. She walked up to them. "Hey there, how's it going, Hana-chan?" She asked him.

"Oh, the usual, got those girls yelling at me about something I can't control. What about you? I haven't seen you in a while. You haven't even met the new kid, who took the top spot on the exams from Yukiko. He really is something."

The girl looked at Yu. "Hey there, I'm sorry, I was sick for a while, so I never got to meet you. You took the top spot from Amagi-chan? Yosuke is right, you are really amazing." She extended her hand. "I'm your senpai, Saki Konishi, nice to meet you."

Yu shook Saki's hand. "I'm Yu Narukami, if you haven't heard. Do you work at Junes?"

Saki smiled and laughed lightly. "Yeah, it's the one place where a second year is higher up than me."

"You're still the smarter one though, Saki-senpai." Yosuke said with a smile on his face. "Oh, hey you know those girls that complain about their work hours, right?" Saki nodded. "Yeah, well, I was speaking with my dad, and we agreed that you would get a raise and double your current salary for a week if you get though girls to stop their complaining and just come in on the weekends."

Saki cocked her head to the side. "Why me though?" She asked.

"You're higher than me, so we were hoping that they would listen to you where they won't listen to me. Course, even if you fail, you will still get the raise. You've deserved it for a while now."

Saki smiled happily. "Well, when you put it that way, I have no reason to not accept."

"Unfortunately, my dad wants to make sure that you don't end up striking a deal with the girls and get the double pay and everything unfairly, so he wants you to wear a secret camera to ensure that the talk isn't about bribing or something. Not my idea though!" Yosuke yelled when Saki raised an eyebrow.

Saki rolled her eyes, but agreed regardless. They attached the camera to her shirt, and then sent her on her way. Yosuke talked to Yu in the time that they waited, mostly about who Saki was, and in that time, Yu figured out that Yosuke had a bit of a high school crush on her.

Five minutes later, Saki approached them, her head hanging down. Yosuke sighed. "Failure, I presume?"

Saki nodded, looking up at Yosuke, saying, "Failure indeed, those girls are annoying."

Yosuke got up. "Come on then, let's go take to my dad about those girls. Sorry Yu, I'll see you at school, OK?" Yu nodded, and watched them walk away, getting up and going to the shrine, spending the rest of his day trying to figure out the new leaf prices for the team, especially now that Kanji has joined them.

On the way home, Yu felt like the Velvet Room was calling to him, so he entered, finding only Margaret. He briefly chatted with her, finding out that she held a Social Link as well, the Empress. She decided that she would give him some odd requests to fulfill the Social Link, so Yu just decided to put it off until he had some better Personas to fuse.

After leaving the Velvet Room, Yu ran into a book person who gave him a book for a Peach Seed, oddly enough.

At the Dojima's…

Nanako was pacing around, talking on the phone. She hung up, jumping around excitedly as she ran to make dinner, chanting, "Daddy's coming home today!" She stopped as she slumped upon identified the contents of the fridge.

Though they had a pitiful collection, there was more than enough to make dinner. "What's wrong Nanako-chan?" Yu asked, not understanding what could make the girl so upset.

"Big bro, we're out of pickled radish. That's daddy's favorite food." Nanako explained.

Yu smiled, the girl was really sweet sometimes. "OK then, let's go get some, quickly, before your father comes home."

Nanako brightened up. "OK then, let's go!"

She tried to run out the door, by Yu grabbed her arm, preventing her from leaving. "Um, aren't you forgetting something." He looked down at her feet.

Nanako mimicked the action. It took a good minute, but finally it clicked in her mind. "Oh right, my shoes. That's important, isn't it?"

Yu chuckled. "It's as bad as me forgetting my hat, even at this time of night." Yu said, grabbing said hat off of the rack.

Nanako sat down, starting to put on her shoes. As they were just about to walk out the door, Dojima walked in, seeing them about to leave.

Dojima's face turned into one of annoyance. "Where were you about to go?" He was addressing Nanako more than Yu.

Yu stepped in front of her. "It was my idea that we go out. Let me explain." Dojima scowled and told Nanako to go to her room. Nanako looked dejected, but regardless, she walked away, head down after she removed her shoes. The other two did the same, and stepped into the living room. "Listen, uncle…" Yu didn't get to finish his sentence.

"What were you thinking?!" Dojima yelled, though not to loud to avoid scaring Nanako too much. "It's dangerous out there!"

"She wanted to get you some pickled radishes!" Yu yelled back, angry at Dojima. "She just wanted to make you happy, and this is how you repay her?! Normal parents would scold their kid a little, but forgive them if they had good intentions, but you didn't even ask! You just started to scold her!" Dojima continually tried to say something, but Yu wouldn't let him get a word in.

Due to the fact that the Demon Form could be activated by anger, Yu's nails started to grow, cutting into his skin because he had his hands in a ball. "Go apologize to her, now!" He demanded. Dojima took at step back. A kid was telling him what to do, and he was not fond of that, but when he thought about it, he had been a little harsh to his kid.

Dojima hung his head. "Yeah, I'm sorry Yu. I should have thought a little before blowing up like that." Dojima started to walk to Nanako's room. Yu's anger receded, and he dug around his stuff upstairs to find his nail clippers. As he finally located them, he heard the creak of a door, indicating that Dojima entered his daughter's room.

"Yu, come down here, quickly!" Dojima called to him franticly. Startled, Yu ran down, seeing the door to Nanako's room was open, and the window was open. Dojima was standing there, stunned.

"I guess it was only a matter of time before she needed to get away." Yu commented, strangely calm, as Dojima pushed past him in a panic. Yu followed him, and put on his shoes with his uncle.

The two ran around aimlessly for a bit, then Yu group-texted his friends to help. They all agreed, and started running around as well. Finally, Yukiko texted Yu, "I found her! What should I do?"

Yu smiled as he started to reply. "Don't talk to her. This is a job for her dad. Where is she?"

Yu started to run to find Dojima. Finding him, he explained that she had been found. Then, he received the response from Yukiko. "She's by the riverbank. She's staring sadly at the water." Dojima took off running upon reading that, and Yu followed.

When he arrived, Yukiko was standing there, watching as Dojima hugged his kid, muttering that he was really sorry about being so angry at her, he didn't mean it.

Yu smiled, his task done, and turned to leave, Yukiko joining him. He took out his phone and texted everyone. "Found her; now go home!" That night, when the family came back to the house, they were a lot happier than they were before. Dojima gave him his **wife's coffee mug**, telling him that his wife wouldn't want it to go to waste. Nanako also showed him a **picture of her whole family**, allowing him to keep it. Yu was then told that he completed the two Social Links that they held.

* * *

><p>(24th) (Tuesday)<p>

After school, Yu decided to hang with the girl in band, helping her a little, and then left. On the way home, he spied Yukiko, finding out that she wanted to get away from the Inn, and get a real job, but there were some major gaps in her plan, so Yu suggested that she just take up translating and making the origami cranes. She brightened up significantly, and ran off to check the job offerings.

That night, because Yu finished the Dojima's Social Links, he had nothing to do, so he settled on making some more cranes and worked on translating, finishing them both, (As in, ran out of paper, and finished the chunk of translating.) starting on his new book as well.

* * *

><p>(25th) (Wednesday)<p>

More jobs were posted all around the place, so when Yu got out of school, he ran to the job postings. He stole away all of them, reading them over a little first though. He then ran all the way back to talk to Yukiko, hanging out with her for some time until she had to go back to the Inn.

At his house, Yu was chatting to Dojima, and for some reason, he just found out that Kanji had been found, which really confused Yu, since it had been about a week since they found him. He didn't question it, and pretended that he hadn't known until now.

* * *

><p>(26th) (Thursday)<p>

Yu walked down the stairs of the school. After his foot hit the final step, a crap ton of his friends bombarded him with requests to hang out with him. He made his decision, and told the girl in band that he would attend practice, and then hang out with Chie.

At the band, Yu help the girl get ready for a big performance, which then all went down the drain when the better player of her choice of instrument came and stole away her position. She became angry at herself, but decided to change her personality or something like that. Yu knew one more day at practice would max the Link.

He then proceeded to hang out with Chie. Along the time spent with her, they overheard some officers talk about how apparently, there was a gang hanging around the shopping district that were bullying others. Naturally, Chie wanted to help so she ran over there, amazingly just in time to stop them from stealing from a little kid. They tried to beat her up over it, but Yu would have none of that, and almost beat the ever-living shit out of them. They then proceeded to train the day away, (Which at that point was only about 1 hour) and at the end, Chie gave Yu a **wristband **to symbolize their friendship, or something weird like that.

This rather strange turn of events caused Chie's Persona to change dramatically into another one. This change made both of their mouths drop open in surprise. It was now a good version of Darth Maul, in a samurai outfit; however, the light saber was still red. Yu then and there made a mental note to himself that he would always hang out with his friends that were also his teammates at every opportunity he had.

Chie then went back home because changing Personas can apparently really hard on a person who lacks the Wild Card ability. So Yu just went home after that.

At home, Yu had nothing to do, so he did what he always did when bored. He worked his butt off of his translating and making origami, but then he remembered he finished them both to the best of his abilities, so he gave up and read his book. He finished that too, a lot earlier that he had expected though. Now he has nothing to read.

* * *

><p>(27th) (Friday)<p>

"You know, hanging out with me while I'm slacking probably isn't a very good idea." Adachi said. Yu had been wandering around aimlessly when he saw Adachi slacking.

"And that will stop me how exactly?" Yu questioned. "Honestly, the only way they will stop me is if Dojima makes Naoto stick to me like duct tape." Yu then added as a bit of an afterthought. "Really, that would hurt to rip off."

"Yeah, I totally agree with you." Adachi said with a sigh. "Hey, do you have any extra money? All I can really afford is cabbages as of the moment, and it's a real pain in the neck. That lady that makes me to stew or whatever it is from the last time you spent time with me doesn't help either. In fact, I think she is making things worse." He groaned.

"How about I just cook for you? Will that help you at all? All you would have to do is re-heat it. I'll make you anything you ask for." Yu suggested.

Adachi glanced at him, as he had been looking at something in the distance. "How about this, next time that you decide to hang out with me, bring me a sample. I'll tell you if it will be worth it or not."

Yu nodded, making a mental note to do so next time. "Hey, I'm curious." Adachi started talking again. "What kind of girls are you into? I want one that would be willing to cook for me that's a real knockout in the looks department."

Yu raised an eyebrow. "What if the only one you can find is one of those stupid blondes that you see on comedy movies?" He asked, not sure what to think about the choice of girls this guy has.

"Well, so long as she can cook, and won't burn down the house while I'm out, I think I would survive with her." Adachi answered simply.

Yu rolled his eyes as he pointed out the time to Adachi, who freaked and ran off, before running back in to get his boss's coffee.

* * *

><p><strong>Was just putting in the cut-off lines, and just realized how many days I shoved in there. That explains the 3,000 word count for the chapter. Anyway, have a good day, blah, blah.<strong>


	11. ()Stupidly Letting Yukiko Cook

**Alright, the intro with Tanaka in it! Also, more Social Link finish, and the start of Ai's Link! ...And Yu trusting Yukiko to make something edible. Nice knowing you buddy.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 11<p>

(28th) (Saturday)

While walking to school, Yu overheard some really obnoxious girls that were very loud.

"Hey, have you heard of the TV show called 'Tanaka's Amazing Commodities?' I heard that it comes on every Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday."

The girls went about their rather strange conversation, but there wasn't anything else that came up that was worth eavesdropping on them for. Yu just walked along, holding his umbrella to cover him and the puppy that continued to follow him around.

After school, Yu checked his notebook, finding that he could either go to the daycare, or talk with Yosuke. And thus Yu walked away to the bus stop, on the way stopping at the shrine to get the new ema. This one was requesting that a person's dog came back to him/her. It was a brown male 'mutt.' So he went out and found the dog, feeding it a piece of steak he had bought. The dog took the meat and ran off, seeming to not trust him.

At the daycare at the top of the hill, Yu talked to Yuuta, and finally managed to get him to accept Eri as his mother, at the very least his step-mother. After Yu had handled that piece of the puzzle, he moved on, finally succeeding in getting Eri to realize everything that she had been doing wrong with trying to form a stable relationship with her step-son.

The two were very glad for Yu's help, and Eri even gave Yu a **clover bookmark**, allowing him to fuse the ultimate Persona of the Temperance Arcana. Margaret then appeared as a voice in his head to say he had finished the Link, not that he hadn't already guessed that was the case.

* * *

><p>(29th) (Sunday)<p>

Yu decided to watch the Tanaka show. What the man was selling was quite strange, and Yu was surprised that he hadn't been shut down yet. He was literally selling weapons of mass destruction to whatever idiot decided that he needed a katana. Regardless, Yu ordered a pack of healing supplies and a weapons deal.

As he was about to walk to wherever the wind took him, his phone rang. As he stared at the number, he wondered who it was, as it displayed a number rather than a name. So he answered it, only to find out it was Kou. Yu briefly wondered how the athlete managed to get his number.

"Hey there, how is it going Yu-kun?"He called out. "What to hang out with us today? Before you say no, we're going to a bookstore, and I will pay for at least one of the books that you get."

Yu had been planning on declining, but then Kou mentioned the bookstore, and Yu jumped right on board. They agreed on the time to meet, and Yu started to get ready for the day.

On the way, Yu spotted the dog that he had fed earlier. It ran off like before though.

When Yu got there, the two sports lovers were already there. They had a nice chat, and Yu got a book that Daisuke had gotten on accident. Then Chie entered the scene, and Yu started to wonder if he made the right decision to hang out with the people he had already completed Links for. It didn't help that they were all acting like a bunch of numbskulls.

After that rather interesting afternoon, Yu bothered to go home. He had nothing to do though because he was too lazy to leave the house.

* * *

><p>(30th) (Monday)<p>

Before lunch King Moron was ranting about Kanji again for some reason. Yu didn't understand why he still wanted to rant about the poor boy and his kidnapping. Right before he shut up, the moron cracked a joke, though it seems that it was unintentional. "Considering that he has an "excused absence" on account of his kidnapping, I bet right now he's really just dicking around all day long. What's up with your faces? Are you trying to hold back laughter?" Indeed, everyone was snickering in some regard. All of them tried to hide it, though most did a damn poor job at it.

The second school let out, Yu ran to the band room, determined to finish Ayane's Social Link. He finally managed it after listening to her speech about her now being determined to study music in every way, and how she had decided to do so abroad after high school. She then handed him a **homemade ticket** to see her performance when she was ready. Yu knew she would be fine from there, and said his goodbyes. He had finished the Sun Arcana.

On the way home, he walked into Junes to get a snack. While in the produce section, he ran into Yukiko. She was trying to pick out ingredients. Naturally, Yu asked why she was the one shopping for the inn.

This is the reply he got. "For the inn…? Oh no, I'm just trying to improve my cooking. Normally, whenever somewhat eats something I make, they can't swallow in. I want to change that soon. Plus, if I'm going to get away from Inaba, I have to know how to cook right?"

Yu agreed, and knowing enough about cooking himself, helped her get the right supplies for the food that she wanted to attempt. He then agreed to taste-test it after she had finished making, even though Yukiko insisted that it was a death sentence. Yu told her she was speaking nonsense and that he would survive, despite the prick in the back of his mind that warned him of the times that he just ate something bad out of the fridge.

* * *

><p>(31st) (Tuesday)<p>

Yu stared at his notebook before class ended. He was running out of people to talk to. In fact, today, he only had Yukiko to hang with.

Yu wrote a note, reaching forward when the teacher wasn't looking and dropping it on Yukiko's desk. She glanced at it, and grabbed it, hiding it under her desk as the teacher turned to address the class.

"Want to hang out after school lets out?" Yukiko smiled and grabbed her pencil, scribbling on her leg for a surface, passing it back.

Yu opened it. "I think that I can spare the time to do so."

Yu raised an eyebrow as he wrote, "Can I assume that's a yes?"

Yukiko read the message, turning in her seat, and whispering, "Yes, I thought that I made that at least somewhat clear."

The bell rang and everyone started to pack up.

Yu and Yukiko walked together to the floodplain. Yukiko handed Yu a box that contained the food that she had made for him to test. He opened it as she said, "I think it came out really good."

The lid pulled off, and an unusually pungent smell drifted up Yu's nostrils. He resisted the sudden urge to gag that followed. Yu wasn't quite sure what to say, so he settled on saying, "All right then, let's eat!"

He started with the thing that looked similar to an omelette. It was soft, but as he was chewing, he found something that was way too hard to bite though, and in the end Yu decided that he wouldn't risk swallowing it. By 'it' he meant the whole thing that he had in his mouth. Then he remembered that Yukiko was sitting next to him, and he forced himself to swallow. He looked at Yukiko, who looked sad.

"It's pretty bad, isn't it?" Yukiko asked.

"Well, I'm sure that I won't have nightmare like with that one dried pickle…" Yu answered, though it didn't seem to help. "Listen, you need practice. You have always had the chefs to cook for you, so you have no idea of how to make anything."

Yukiko smiled. "Thank you Yu-kun. You really know how to cheer someone up, you know that?" She got up. "We'd better throw this away."

Yu frowned. "And let the birds get at it?"

Yukiko sighed. "I guess that would be bad, the river then?" She looked at Yu, who shook his head, muttering 'fish.' Yukiko thought, then said, "What about the ground then?"

Yu shook his head again. "The worms will probably die in that area, not to mention the gophers and every other living creature."

Yukiko pouted, "It wasn't THAT bad, was it?"

Yu sighed as he fastened on the top to the box, blocking off the smell emanating from it. He threw it into the nearby trash. "With any luck, the birds and other creatures won't get to in, but they should have the common sense to not eat it. I'm sorry, I was joking. It won't kill anything expect an animal that has a really weak stomach."

Yukiko smiled lightly. The two then walk to their homes.

After getting home, Yu put away his school supplies, and as he looked at his notebook, he realized that he had the first day of his tutoring today. He stayed home for about an hour, and when it was time to go, he got up, and started to talk to Dojima.

"Hey there, how's it going, uncle?" Yu asked, catching his uncle's attention. "Um, I got a job tutoring a kid, so I need to be allowed out at nights. Dojima stared at him for a second, then sighed and let him go. Outside, Yu walked to the house of the boy he was to teach.

At the house, Yu was introduced to the boy, named Shu, and learned that the boy was shy, but also a little obnoxious. As soon as his gushing mother was out of the room he made one thing very clear. "I don't plan on attending your Yasogami." He stated rather bluntly. "The cram school I was at wasn't suiting me, so now I'm being privately tutored. You were the only option that we had, so that is the only reason that you're here. If you annoy me, or don't meet the standards I set, you will be replaced, got it?"

Yu nodded. On the inside, he was saying, "Man, what a little prick you are." But he decided that the option was a bad one, so he settled on saying, "Yeah, alright then. If I'm doing something wrong, just let me know."

Shu nodded. "Right then, I don't have any subjects that I'm particularly bad at, so I'll let you decide on what we should start on."

Yu thought for a moment, and then replied with a straight face, "Why don't we start on P.E.?"

Shu stared at him, remarking, "That isn't very funny."

They started on one of the various tasks, and Yu merely handed him some problems, gave basic instructions and watched the boy go. Soon it was very late, so they decided to stop. Shu smiled. "You aren't bad. You have a very graspable way of teaching. I understood things quite easily." Yu almost smiled and thanked him, but then he said this, "Of course, I'm sure my natural intellect was most of the reason for that."

Yu immediately stopped, remembering why he thought the kid was a prick. Before he could reply, Yu was given the Tower Arcana. Yu was quite annoyed now, as he couldn't do anything about the kid accept hang out with him while having some break away from him. Regardless, he got a good pay and was told that he was a keeper, so he could only complain so much.

* * *

><p>(June 1st) (Wednesday)<p>

At lunch, Ai the manager of the basketball team approached him. "Hey there Narukami, why don't you ditch your afternoon classes with me today?"

Yu was a little stunned, as he thought that he would have to be the one to ignite the Link that she held. He shrugged in response. "Such, I don't want to go to those classes anyway."

Ai smiled. "Good. Meet me at the shoe lockers later." She walked away.

When the time came, Yu met Ai at the shoe lockers, and they snuck out of the school. They wandered their way over to Okina City. Ai mentioned that it felt good to know that everyone else was stuck at school, while they were out being free.

Yu smiled slightly, this girl wasn't the worst, if you got on her good side. "Yeah, I agree, sometimes it's good to get out of the stuffy classroom."

"Really now, I thought that you were one of those mama's boys who would say that ditching was a really bad thing to do." Ai smiled. "I haven't been doing it that much, I mean, they've been keeping track of my attendance, so I've been a good girl as of late. Let's go now, we will start with clothes, then hit the jewelry and the shoes, looking through the phone stuff on the way back if we have enough time." A large anime-like sweatdrop ran down Yu's face.

Some time later, Yu had lost track, Ai stopped and allowed him to sit down. He let out a sigh as he set down the strangely heavy bags full of clothes. "Got some money to burn there?"

"Yeah, my dad makes a fortune with his job." Ai replied. "Come on, we need to get back to class." Ai looked away. "Right after class ends, I have to go to the guidance counselor's. He checks on my attendance and behavior, and then usually tops it off with some lectures. What a major pain in the ass!" She groaned. "I'm out here why the teachers don't even notice. They aren't very bright, are they?"

Yu smiled. "Not very, ever meet King Moron?"

Ai laughed. "Yes, once, and I never have to say hello to his ugly mug again. You know, I had fun today; you aren't like the others that have come with me. Let's do this again, only after school." Yu was given the Moon Arcana.

Back at the school, Yu snuck into the classroom when the teacher wasn't looking, getting notes from his friends asking where the hell he had been hiding.

After explaining and finally getting out of the school, Yu went to find the dog again. He found it and fed it again. It then ran away again, but Yu was tired of it running, so he ran after it, picking it up and asking around town until he found its owner. The owner was really happy to have the dog back, so she ran off to pay up. Yu followed a little bit behind.

The fox was quite happy with Yu's work, so he started talking the gibberish that foxes say; only now Yu was starting to understand it. Basically the message was, the prices have been lowered some more.

He then ran off, coming back with the ema for another person. This one read, "I wish I had friends." Yu nodded to the fox and walked away, the ema clutched in his hand. On the way home, Yu ran through the floodplain, spotting the boy that wrote the ema. He wanted a sticker. Yu didn't have any, so he decided to put it off until he could buy one.

When Yu got home, he heard the now familiar, "Welcome home big bro!" Then he heard something that he didn't quite expect. "A package arrived for you, so I put it on the table."

Yu walked over, opening the box. Inside were the items that he had ordered. He walked upstairs and dropped them off in his room, not wanting his uncle to see them and question their very existence inside of the house.

He then returned to the downstairs. After dinner, Dojima and Nanako were to go to Junes, so Yu decided to accompany them. While looking around, Yu spied a sticker that looked like it would be popular with children, so he picked it up. As they walked, Yu hung back, fishing out the exact change that he needed to buy it. After a bit, Dojima let him wander around a bit, so he rushed to the register, intent on buying the sticker without his uncle finding out.

The man at the register happened to be Yosuke. Yu had a nice chat about why he wanted the sticker, without his uncle knowing. He just didn't want him to question it. Yosuke smirked and taunted the idea a little, but stopped after a bit. Yu hid the sticker in his jacket as he walked back to the Dojimas, picking up a can of Royal Jelly as he passed by it.

* * *

><p><strong>I finished another chapter on the same day I'm uploading 10, so I figured what the fuck, why not just get the next one out? Tomorrow will be a hassle, I'm sure, but I found another guide to ensure that I don't screw up the days with events in them, so this should be moving along at a nice even pace. I hope.<strong>


	12. ()The Shadow King

**Ok this was a rather short chapter, but the story is moving, and they murder the King Shadow at the end of Yukiko's castle, so I figured it would work. Also, I put quite a bit of effort into the fox quest with the boy with the sticker. Take it to heart! If you have to get a sticker to make friends, they probably will abandon you! I haven't experienced it, but it seems pretty likely!**

* * *

><p>Chapter 12<p>

(2nd) (Thursday)

Though it was raining, after school Yu went to find the boy that wanted a sticker from earlier. He didn't have anyone else to hang out with, so he had no reason not to.

At the place where the boy was standing yesterday, Yu found him again, sitting in the rain, looking miserable as it soaked him. Yu walked over, positioning his umbrella to block some of the rain away. He looked up. "Hey there mister." He greeted politely.

"You shouldn't sit in the rain, you know. You'll catch a cold. Why are you moping anyway?" Yu asked the boy as he took a seat next to him.

The boy looked through the clear umbrella top, staring at the rain as it came down. "I don't have any friends, and it's all because they won't accept me into their groups because I don't have a dumb sticker. I hate it." He snarled.

Yu sighed inwardly. "Hey kid, getting a sticker is easy. The thing is that if those people won't accept you for you, then they aren't going to be your friends for long. However," Yu pulled out the sticker, holding it out to the kid. "They should do until you can get some real friends."

The boy brightened, gingerly grabbing the stick from Yu's hand. "I can have this?" He asked, clearly not sure of how to react to Yu's kindness. Yu nodded and got up, offering to walk the kid home to prevent him from getting rained on more.

At the boy's home, the mother thanked him for helping her child, as he was quite happy now. Yu just told her to make sure the boy paid the shrine later, as he had seen the ema. (He really had the ema shoved in his pocket, but hey, he wasn't going to let them know that.) The mother told him that she would be sure to pay up, and so Yu left, his business complete.

After he had his dinner, Yu decided to work at the hospital. He worked in a room where he was clearly alone, but he still got the feeling that someone was watching him from the corner. He shivered slightly, but continued his work regardless. He eventually got the strangest feeling that a ghost (possibly of a little girl) was following him around.

A nurse walked in. "Nice work there boy." She told him, while he raised an eyebrow. Yu hadn't expected to have a nurse walk in and complement his cleaning skills. "Oh, I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself. I'm Sayoko Uehara. It's nice to meet you."

Yu smiled slightly, this girl was quite nice, but not in the way that you had to work for it like Ebihara. The nurse then walked forward, coming a little bit close for Yu's comfort. "I heard that you're a high schooler, right?" She looked him up and down, and then grabbed his hand. "Your skin is so smooth. I like you. When are you coming next, I will adjust my shift accordingly."

Yu was a little frightened by the woman's behavior, but then he got the Devil Arcana. He was annoyed and wanted to yell at whoever was the one who gave him the Arcana's, because he didn't want to deal with this girl almost every night until he could finish the Social Link.

"I'll see you again." The nurse told him, and walked away. Yu wanted to run from the hospital, and never return, but he knew that he couldn't do that. He settled on walking away, and never returning, until he had nothing else to do. He got some money, but that didn't help a lot to make him want to come back. It also wasn't helping him that the ghostly presence was still there.

* * *

><p>(3rd) (Friday)<p>

Yu clicked his tongue. He wasn't sure what happened, but all of his Social Links were gone. So he went to hang with the fox, only finding an ema reading, "I wish my life had meaning again." As Yu looked it over, he realized that the man who had written it was the one who gave him the model to finish on the day he had gotten his hat. He rushed home to get the model, as he remembered that the man had wanted Yu to finish the model to give his life meaning again. 'Oops,' Yu thought when he realized that he had left the man hanging for a couple months now.

Yu slipped into the house, not taking off his shoes; because he didn't want to waste the time and have Nanako come home and find him there, not letting him leave afterwards. However, he was leaving a trail of mud behind, but it didn't matter to him as he grabbed the model and ran out the house again.

He ran around until he found the man at his house. Yu held out the model to him, and his face brightened. He took it from Yu's hands and inspected the model up and down. He handed it back. "Thank you," the man said. "You can keep it. Come back anytime that you want another model to put together. Now then, I must pay my offering to the shrine, so if you will excuse me…" Yu nodded, and walked away.

While walking, Yu spied a capsule game, figuring that he had enough money to play with it for a minute. He tried it, but the capsule got stuck, so Yu called the owner out. She was momentarily mad at him, but calmed down and retrieved his prize, giving him a bit of an info-dump on the origins of the machine. Yu inwardly sighed, but didn't say anything out of politeness.

When he got home, Yu found Nanako cleaning up the mess he made earlier. He instantaneously felt bad, and helped her out to finish before Dojima found out. They had managed to finish the downstairs when Dojima got home, so Yu told Nanako to keep her father occupied while he finished up. When dinner was ready, Yu scrubbed off the last traces to the mud he had tracked in.

After he had dinner, he begrudgingly decided to advance the Social Link with the nurse. When Yu had just finished up the room he had been cleaning, Sayoko came up and told him he did a good job, and asked if he had been waiting for her. Unknown to her, he had been, although almost against his will. She flirted with him quite a bit, and it was a tad annoying, but he put up with it. For some reason, he had a feeling that half of the Link was going to be about this.

As he moved to take his leave, he saw an old lady in a mourning dress. "My…" she said, then turned around and left. Yu was confused, but convinced himself that he was just seeing things, and that he should pretend that it never happened. And that is exactly what he did.

* * *

><p>(4th) (Saturday)<p>

After school, Yu literally had NOTHING to do again. So he gathered the others to train in the TV. Inside of said TV, Teddie told them, "Hey guys, something has appeared in Yukiko-knight's castle! It's really strong." Yu smiled, exactly what he wanted.

"It's not my castle!" Yukiko shrieked. "And don't call me 'Knight!' I heard that Yosuke joked about you being a king, and now you act like it. Is that really necessary?" She asked him, to which Teddie nodded, silently saying, 'of course it is.' Yukiko sighed and walked off to kick some Shadow butt, no longer wasting the time to argue with him.

At the top of the castle, there was the little prince Shadow, now grown up, and ready to murder. It first erected a shield that Teddie told them was to protect him from fire attacks. Yu sighed and dropped his katana, calling forth the Demon Powers sleeping inside of him, summoning the Persona Makami to Sukunda it, then summoned Samael to Matarunda it.

Chie and Yosuke were on Persona magic skills duty, and Yukiko was to attack physically, and heal anyone who was wounded. Yu was running all around the place, attacking, magic skilling, and everything else.

It didn't even take thirty seconds, and the Shadow was already crouched in its pain. Then it stood straight up, and attacked with what Teddie called out as a "Rampage!"

Everyone briefly wondered why he called it out, but then the Shadow attacked, and nearly knocked them all out. Yukiko quickly healed them to the best of her abilities, but it was hardly anything compared to what the Shadow knocked out of them.

Not having any bright ideas, Yu told them to just attack, and cover Yukiko, who was having some difficulty standing, the attack and healing everyone having taken a lot out of her. They continued to attack, but something was off in the effect that they were hardly making a dent. It was probably the fact that they were all tired after the previous assault. The Shadow shook itself, throwing off Yu and Yosuke, who had latched onto it. It unleashed another Rampage, and only Yukiko and Teddie weren't hurt, because they were out of range of the attack. Everyone drained of their energy; they lay there, not moving.

Yu slowly opened his eyes, only to find the Shadow looming over him, about to impale him with the end of his staff. Yu didn't move, only closed his eyes again, and waited. He felt something stab painfully into his gut, and thought, 'Never thought I would die because a fake king executed me himself.'

After less the five seconds, he heard a shriek from the Shadow, and the staff was lifted from him, the hole it had created quickly healed. Yu opened his eyes again to find Chie beating the Shadow over the head with its own staff, yelling, "Don't. Beat. Up. Our. Leader!" In between grunts, and Yosuke was latched to its face. Yukiko quickly helped him up.

Yu smiled and muttered under his breath, "Thanks guys, I owe you." Then he raised his voice. "Alight, Yukiko, sneak around the back! Yosuke, keep him distracted as long as possible. Chie… you have fun." Chie flashed him a smile as she continued to smash the Shadow with its staff.

Yu awakened the Demon Powers again, and ran forward, slashing at the Shadow. Out of nowhere, Yukiko suddenly popped up, clawing through the Shadow's back, instantly killing in. Yosuke dropped to the ground, luckily landing on his feet. Everyone started to complement Yukiko on her stealth.

It then hit Yu that everyone seemed to have some sort of amazing skill. Yu had shown Chie's leg strength when he had murdered her Shadow, and had also shown Yukiko's stealth. Yosuke seemed to be a bit of an all around type, so he didn't have anything super special. 'Interesting,' Yu thought. The team, drained of all life, then decided to head home.

(At the Dojima house…)

"After a couple days of rain, a thick fog will soon set in the Inaba area." An announcer, well, announced.

Yu sighed inwardly. He was glad they had saved Kanji, but he still wanted to watch the Midnight Channel to see the aftermath. However, he was still wiped from the battle earlier. In the end, he decided to suck it up and texted Yosuke to call when it was time to make sure he was still awake.

Some time later, Yu woke to the sound of a phone ringing. He drowsily picked it up and muttered, "Hello?" Yosuke started talking as the Midnight Channel came on, showing nothing again. Yu smiled, as they had no more people to worry about this time. "Good night, Yosuke." Yu said, hanging up, disregarding the fact that his friend had been talking. He slipped under his covers, and promptly fell asleep.

* * *

><p><strong>There was sleeting today, so I have to day off from school. <strong>You know, when my first period teacher for day two was talking about how this was "No School November," I don't think this was what he had in mind.<strong> For some people, this will come out while they are studying or something. Next chapter might (probably) just be finished and uploaded before the day is done. Unless my family comes by my computer every two seconds. I find it's a little embarrassing to be typing Fanfiction, and I would prefer to not let my family get the details of it.**

**Quick note: My friend (Quil12) is lazy, and won't type up a chapter of her story on her tablet. (The family's laptop is with her dad, and she generally doesn't live with him) So when she writes a chapter in Freshman Exploration or whatever, I'll be typing it up, so that will probably cut into the update times a little. However, if you want to read more things with my touch (Why would you?) Go find her, I typed up the last uploaded chapter, I took the basic idea, and wrote the whole thing. She mostly has stories about Naruto, and her main project is a crossover of Naruto and Pokemon. Just needed to get that out there, as it will only happen every two months or something, but it will happen. Hopefully. She has a lot of people yelling "Review!" (Wait, that's not right...)**


	13. The Ghostly Night With A Girl Named Rie

**Ok then, June 5****th****! My birthday, so I'm happy. This chapter gets a little weird; you'll see when you get to it.**

**Also, quick question, does anyone at all understand the reasons for each character's ears being the colors they are? Like Yu's multi-colored, Chie has yellow and white, ect.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 13<p>

(5th) Sunday)

Yu woke up, and lazily turned on the TV to help wake him. He was greeted but a familiar annoyingly cheerful song. Yu ordered a fish deal from Tanaka, then walked out of his room. He tiredly wandered around until he saw Yosuke, so he stopped to talk to him. Suddenly, Yosuke had a brilliant idea. "I want to check out your room!" He announced, walking off, Yu following, though he felt a little uncomfortable with Yosuke barging into his room.

Back at the house, Yosuke practically broke the door open when he kicked it, thinking he had seen the door ajar. It wasn't, so he just put a dent in the door, and wounded his foot. He then entered like a normal person should, with a slight limp.

"Wow, your room is clean, isn't it?" Yosuke asked, and then he lowered his voice. "Hey, do you keep the "goods" under your futon?"

Yu wasn't sure what he meant by that. He had the weapons in the TV world, he didn't have any books that weren't in plain sight, and he couldn't just remove his ears and tail, or something absurd like that. However, he decided to humor the boy, and replied, "Yeah, sure I do, why do you ask?" He smiled.

From there some more things happened, and Nanako even talked to them. Turned out Yosuke was being pressured into being a part of some random thing with the economy, however, he was refusing to take part. The Social Link had advanced, so Yosuke left after some time, like what happens with all of Yu's links after he was done hanging out for the day. Yosuke eventually did checked under the futon, only to find nothing, which disappointed him.

After dark, Yu wandered around quite a bit. He reached the shrine, so he entered because he had nothing else to do. He got a bug net from what he assumed was a ghost. He then started talking with Adachi.

The annoying old lady wanted him to come to her house, and he used Yu as an excuse to not, saying that he was going to his house. Yu wasn't the happiest to be used to get someone out of a free dinner, but he knew that Adachi didn't like her, so he didn't say anything.

After the woman walked away, disappointed, Yu asked him to come over for real. Adachi was surprised, but he told him that it would be a tad awkward without Dojima there as well. Yu rolled his eyes and just walked away, not saying anything else to the man.

* * *

><p>(6th) (Monday)<p>

After school, everyone was sitting on the rooftop already when Yu got there. Kanji and Yukiko talking lightly about what they had been doing in the time that they hadn't talked to each other. Chie and Yosuke were off in their own corner, chatting away, and at one point Chie kneed Yosuke for being the weird person he often is.

Yu called for order like a judge, and the questioning started. "Kanji Tatsumi, what were you doing in the hour or so before the kidnapping?" Yu asked in an official voice.

Kanji raised an eyebrow. "I was chasing you numbskulls, remember?"

"Right," Yu said, preparing to ask the next question. "Do you remember how you were kidnapped?"

Kanji shrugged. "Heard the doorbell, went to see who it was. Think I blacked out after that."

"OK then, your answer has been noted, same as Yukiko." Yu said, starting to get a sore throat from the slightly awkward way of speaking, but he kept it up. "Do you have any idea why you were kidnapped?"

Kanji gave a look that said, 'Are you fucking with me?' "I don't know, why would I?!" he asked, but Yu ignored him.

"Why did your Shadow take the form of a bunny?"

"The fuck man, you know the answer to that!" Kanji yelled, looking about ready to strangle Yu.

Luckily, Yukiko broke it up. "OK Yu, drop the awkward act. Kanji calm down, I'm not sure what he's trying to accomplish, but it isn't working, unless he's trying to annoy us. Then he is succeeding quite well."

Kanji sighed. "Yeah, thanks Yukiko-chan, I needed that." Slowly, Kanji's face changed from that of anger to annoyance. Not a whole lot better, but it was something. "But really, what the hell man, if you're going to ask questions, don't do it like that."

"Yeah that was a little weird man." Yosuke muttered. "So, Kanji, do you remember anything else?"

"Yeah, I think I saw a big black mass, but my eyes were clearly open." He said, and Yukiko jumped up.

"Do you think it was a TV?" She asked, alarming everyone else, as this made some sense.

"Yeah, I guess that it makes sense. We did exit from a TV in Junes, right?" Kanji asked them, and slowly it dawned on them that **whoever threw Yukiko and Kanji in a TV must have a TV. **What a shocker.

"Hey, I wonder," Yu piped up in his normal voice. "Did you have to speak to the cops? I mean, this is the second kidnapping in the Inaba area in a couple months." Everyone looked at Yu, stunned as they hadn't even thought about that.

"Yeah, I did, I told them about the weird things that happened, but they thought I was crazy. Course, I didn't have the ears at that time to show them I wasn't lying." Kanji said, pulling off his cap. His ears twitched. Everyone stared at them. They were yellow, white and black. At this point everyone was starting to wonder how Kanji, Chie and Yukiko had picked out hats that just so happened to have the same colors as their ears, even though they had yet to appear at the time that the hats were obtained.

"Hey, are you guys playing detective or something, that's why you're handling the case?" Kanji asked.

"Yeah, that's it in a nutshell." Yu answered.

"Alright then, count me in!" Kanji yelled, and everyone one said, 'yeah, that makes sense,' and other things along those lines.

Some time later, Yosuke insisted that they show Kanji the TV world. On the way, Kanji stole a folding chair to use as a weapon, which confused everyone, but they were too lazy to bother asking why he stole it, not bought one at Junes for 1,700 or so yen. On the way, they explained everything, but they weren't sure what to do about Teddie. They settled on telling him they had a friend that thinks he is a king, because of a joke Yosuke made, inside the TV.

Inside said TV, Teddie was being strange, as in he was crouched over and seemed to be thinking way too hard. They introduced Kanji properly to the bear, but he just muttered, "Yeah, morning, Kanji-knight."

Yukiko stared at him. "What the heck? It's evening, you know."

Teddie stopped thinking so hard for a minute. "Well, it has to be morning somewhere, otherwise tomorrow is going to be very disappointing." He replied bluntly.

Everyone wasn't sure how to react to his logic, as it made sense in some ways. Clearly they weren't going to get a whole lot more from the empty creature, so they just decided to leave. Not before Kanji cracked and tried to hug Teddie and stroke his fur. This entertained everyone for a couple minutes before they decided to drag him away.

Outside, Kanji heard some students talk smack about him, so he scared them off, and Yukiko had to calm him down quite a bit. He then remembered something, and handed Yu a piece of paper. There were a couple dates on it.

Yu Narukami: TBD 4/23rd

Yosuke Hanamura: TBD 4/24th

Chie Satonaka: TBD 4/26th

Yukiko Amagi: 4/24th 4/30th (Could be different)

Kanji Tatsumi: 5/13th 6/6 (Could be different)

The last part (6/6, could be different) was written quite hastily, so Yu guessed that whoever Kanji stole it from, saw Kanji, then started to write it down, when Kanji took it. Yu focused on the first dates, most of which were marked with TBD. "What happened on the 4/24th and 5/13th?" He questioned.

Yukiko looked at the paper. "Wasn't that the day that they interviewed me? The 24th of April? And wasn't the 13th of May the day Kanji appeared on TV?"

"That's right," Yu said. "And the 23rd was the day I first came to school with my hat? The 24th was the day Yosuke first started wearing his hat as well!" Yu suddenly realized that the boy was a stalker, and had been keeping tabs on all of them. "The TBD's must be because he never saw us appear on any sort of media then!"

"So the first dates are the day's that Kanji and Yukiko appeared on the news, and the second ones are the first days that we started wearing our hats?" Chie questioned.

"That seems to be the case." Yu answered, startled that a student had been stalking them. "Now that I think about it, the first dates on Kanji and Yukiko are the days that they appeared on TV. Notice anything?" Everything started to click in the people's minds. Yu whipped out his phone. "I have to let my uncle know about this."

After he was done on the phone, he told everyone to go home; he had a meeting to attend at his. When he got home, he found that Naoto, Nanako and Dojima were there, gathered around the table. As he sat down, Naoto whispered, "Thanks for calling when you did. I almost had to go on another absurd errand for your uncle."

"You're welcome," Yu replied with a smile. Naoto rolled her eyes. They both turned their attention to Dojima as he started speaking.

"Well Yu, when you mentioned the idea that the two who had been kidnapped being on the news, it clicked in my mind. Whoever kidnapped them must have seen them on TV, and knew that they could get away with it or something strange like that." Dojima said. "However, it doesn't explain the ears or why the rest of the friends you hang out with the most have them either."

Yu shrugged. "I don't quite get it either. Really now, I didn't think I would come to Inaba to have ears super-glued to my head. Nor anyone else's for that matter."

Dojima laughed lightly. "Yeah well, I guess the only thing that we can do now it wait."

"Yeah, though if this is the only thing that you were going to discuss, I have to question why you dragged me here, Dojima-san." Naoto said.

"That's a good question." Dojima answered. "I don't know." He was rather blunt with that. "Well, you're here, so why don't you stay for dinner then?"

Having no reason to object, she decided to stay. As they sat there, eating their sushi, something smacked Naoto in the cheek. She looked down and saw a piece of sushi, and it had come from Yu's direction. "Yu-kun, did you just throw sushi at my face?"

Yu looked up from his plate, then down at the sushi that lay on the ground by his friend. It was clear it had come from his direction, but he didn't think that he had done it. "I don't believe so." He answered, not sure how to react. "I highly doubt that I did so, if I was about to put something in my mouth."

Dojima looked up. "Not likely. Strange… I think we should just pretend that never happened, otherwise we will have to believe that our house is haunted." Dojima was most likely joking when he said that. It was probably actually because one object wasn't put in its place properly, which fell, and smacked something else that cause sushi to fling into someone's face.

Regardless, Nanako wasn't happy with the idea of ghosts. "Daddy, don't joke about that, you know ghosts are creepy to me."

"I'm not overly fond of the idea as well." Naoto said, clearly not in the mood to deal with the family's shenanigans.

"Yeah, that was a stupid idea." Dojima admitted then he went back to eating, as did everyone else.

Not even a minute later, Yu was smacked by some sushi as well, coming from Naoto's direction. "OK, what the heck? Now I'm being slapped with fish!" He yelled as everyone got up and looked at the sushi. "I'm starting to think that the house really is haunted."

The two girls shivered uncontrollable, both yelling, "Don't say that!"

"Sorry," Yu apologized. "But really, I think that someone is throwing sushi from somewhere, but it would have to be small, like a rat," Then he thought for a second, realizing the hole with the idea, "but it would have to have amazing strength for it to do so."

Then the spirit of a little girl appeared in front of them, not much taller than Nanako. "A rat, is that right?" She questioned them.

Everyone was shocked. A ghost, really now? "We didn't think a spirit was really here." Yu answered the ghost.

"I think that was obvious." The ghost held up a knife, not the one of the ones that the Dojima's kept around the house though. "Sadly for you people, I happen to be one of the spirits that happen to enjoy murdering people."

"Please tell me I'm dreaming." Naoto muttered.

"Sorry, you aren't." The spirit replied, studying the knife.

Yu turned his head to look to the others behind him. "What are the odds? I joke about there being a ghost in the house, and there really is one. Too bad she wants to kill us."

"OK, you are being way to calm about this situation we're in." Naoto stated, quite freaked out at that moment, clearly not fond of ghosts, and neither was Nanako, who was clinging to the older girl.

"You want to know how to get rid of me?" The spirit asked them, playing around with the knife she held.

"Sure?" Yu more or less asked.

The girl giggled. "Alright then, the trick is to just kill me like any normal living being. That is the only way to rid the world of me."

"When you put it that way, it sounds a little harsh." Dojima said.

"Yes, but remember, you'll die otherwise." The girl let out a high pitch giggle, throwing a knife, landing next to Nanako's foot. "I won't be messing with you the next throw." She said, her eyes suddenly glowing red as she summoned another knife.

Yu sighed. "Fine then, but can we take it outside? It's hard to see out there, but I don't think that we'll sound sane explaining why the house has been wrecked. They won't accept that a ghost decided to appear and throw knifes around as an excuse."

The girl frowned. "But then it isn't any fun…" She threw the knife in her hand with a flick of her wrist, very lightly grazing Nanako's leg. She yelped and crouched down. Yu got into an attack stance, growling.

The spirit giggled some more, annoying Yu to no end. "Now that's more like it!" She summoned another knife. "However, I feel you need more incentive." She flicked her wrist once more, this time doing more damage that a light graze. Also, the target wasn't Nanako.

Yu turned around at the cry of pain. His eyes widen when he saw Naoto almost curled into a ball, the knife in her shoulder. He whipped around, snarling. "OK, you have taken this too far!" He yelled. "Dojima, get them out of here. I'm going to get rid of this girl before the hour is done."

The spirit smiled creepily. "Ha, that's quite bold of you, Narukami. You have 5 minutes to kill me then."

"That's all I need," Yu said, jumping forward, slashing at the spirit as his Demon Form was provoked.

The girl jumped out of the way, landing lightly on the table. "Come on now, Narukami, get serious. You can't kill me like that." She taunted him.

She jumped forward; summoning knifes that floated around her. She snapped, and a couple of them went flying. Yu nimbly dodged them with a spin. He grabbed one of the knives that had imbedded itself into the floor. Swiftly, he launched himself forward, slashing with the weapon. The girl continued to dodge like she was just walking; easily.

After a minute of neither of them getting an advantage, Yu finally pinned the girl down, holding the knife to her neck. She smiled. "Well done Narukami." She congratulated him. "When I followed you home from the hospital that night, I didn't think that I would get into a worthy fight with you."

Yu raised an eyebrow. "You were the strange presence that I felt was following me around?"

The girl giggled some more, which was really getting on Yu's nerves by now. "Yes, I was rather lonely, so I saw you and thought that living with you until I could pass on would be fun. Sadly, I can't seem to do so normally."

"I thought you said the only way to get you to pass on to the afterlife was killing you again?" Yu questioned.

"Nah," she answered. "I just wanted to get you to fight me. I didn't have any real want to kill you all anyway." She snapped, and all of the knives disappeared. All of the damage done was gone as well, only the plates that were knocked around were still chipped and everything.

"I won't kill you, if you don't kill me, OK?" She asked.

"How long will you be with us?" Yu asked, not sure how long he could put up with the obnoxious child.

"No longer than the rest of the year. I can also wander around, but most humans won't see me. Only those who were here today and those with your powers can see me unless I will it." The girl answered.

Yu got up. "I'll speak to my uncle. No guarantees, since he doesn't even let us keep pets. I highly doubt a ghost will strike his fancy either." Yu walked out the door, finding the rest of them sitting there, Dojima was pacing around.

"No one would believe this no matter what she leaves behind." Dojima muttered, before he noticed Yu.

"Turns out that ghost was just picking a fight. She followed me home from my job at the hospital, wanting something to do until she passes on, but she won't until later this year, with any luck. She's requesting to stay." Yu told them.

Everyone looked at Yu like he was crazy. He probably was though, to be suggesting that. Nanako looked curious. "Is the ghost lady really friendly?" She asked. Yu wasn't sure how to respond, so Nanako took it as a yes and ran inside.

Everyone else ran inside after her, only to find her having a pleasant conversation with the ghost and picking up the scattered dishes. Dojima wasn't the happiest, but Nanako was having a good time, so he couldn't say no, so long as she didn't present a threat.

"Alright, now that's settled," Yu said. "What's your name?"

"It's Rie." She answered with a grin, before returning to her conversation with Nanako.

"Right, so anyway…" Yu was about to talk to her about some of the things that they should probably know about her, and to tell her to not come into anyone's rooms while they're changing. You know; the basic things that he could only guess that Rie should already know, with any luck. She wasn't that young, as far as Yu could tell.

Then Naoto fell to the ground. Yu stared for a second, until his mind registered it. Then he asked, "Uncle, why didn't you do anything about the hole in her shoulder?"

Dojima frowned. "I think my mind was a little preoccupied with the fact that there was a ghost in house that was fighting my sister's kid, and that she would kill me if I called her up and told her an absurd story that a ghost attacked you." He told Yu while picking the girl up. "Now then, go to your room. Take the Rie with you as well, get everything sorted out."

"Why? What about Nanako?" Yu asked, as Rie started to act like a little kid and ran forward, hugging him, almost knocking him over.

"Hello? I had a wife, and Nanako's a girl. Think about it. I don't want to have to explain this to anyone outside this house right now." Dojima replied.

Yu thought for a moment. If they weren't going outside the house, but Naoto had a shoulder wound… It then hit him that they would remove her shirt.

He swiftly turned around and walked up the stairs, his face a light pink. He talked to Rie, going over the rules of the house.

After a couple minutes, Dojima walked in. "Do you have a shirt she could borrow?" He asked. Yu nodded, and looked through his clothes, finding something that would work. He threw it to his uncle, and then started wondering what they were going to do about the fact that they had two guests staying the night. He called to his uncle, and they decided that Rie would stay with Nanako in her room, and Naoto would take Yu's room for the night. Yu would sleep on the couch.

Carefully, they moved Naoto to Yu's room. Yu curled up on the couch, finding it to be strangely comfortable. That or he was too tired to care. Either one worked for him as sleep overtook him.

* * *

><p><strong>Yeah, Yu will now have a ghost with him at times. Mostly at the house. Though I'm debating on whether she should follow him into the TV…<strong>

**Anyway, this is the longest chapter of anything I have made that was only two days, and the first one hardly counts as a piece of the chapter.**


	14. Cute Moment, and Rie Won't Zip It!

**Next Chap! I'm thinking that until I catch up with where I currently am, (Rise's dungeon) I will be posting two chaps everyday, disregarding whether I type anything that day or not, because the make one, post one rule is getting really annoying with the time I'm taking to make each chapter.**

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><p>Chapter 14<p>

(7th) (Tuesday)

Yu woke to sleep shining in his eyes. As he got up, he briefly wondered why he had been sleeping on the couch. Then he saw Rie watching Nanako make herself some breakfast. Most of the memories of yesterday came back to him, hitting him like a train. A ghost was living with them, and had even hurt them. Plus, she had slapped them with sushi. However, he couldn't quite remember why he had been sleeping on the couch. He muttered a 'good morning' to Nanako and Rie as he walked to his room to get ready for school.

Opening the door to said room, he suddenly remembered why he had been sleeping on the couch, and not the futon he was used to. Naoto was sleeping there. He wondered for a moment if he should wake her. In the end, he decided to not, as she could miss a day or two. After all, they both had at that point. Besides, by the time that she got ready, school would have long since started.

Then, Yu's alarm clock went off. Yu dashed over and hit the snooze button, watching as Naoto shifted a little from the noise. Luckily, she didn't wake. Yu let out a sigh of relief. He looked down at Naoto's peaceful face, finding it to be quite adorable. After a minute, Yu realized he was staring, and started to make his way to his clothes.

Yu semi-silently tip-toed over to his clothes, stopping every time the floor creaked, though it did so quite often, making a normally five second trip a five minute ordeal. After gathering the clothes, Yu quickly half-sprinted to the door, actually making less noise than on the way in. Yu silently cursed his stupidity.

He entered the bathroom, changing there, just in case Naoto woke, and saw him half undressed. The top half wouldn't be the worst for her to see, but without his pants… things would get embarrassing. When Yu realized he was thinking about that, he blocked it from his mind, though he did blush a little from the thought of him pant-less with a girl staring at him in shock.

After changing, Yu threw his dirty clothes in his laundry bin. He then went downstairs and popped some bread in the toaster. When it popped, he smothered some jam on it and shoved it in his mouth, readying his school supplies. When Yu looked at the clock and figured that it was time to go, he left, with Nanako and Rie following.

Yu didn't want Rie to come with Nanako to school, but she wasn't going to stay at the house. So in the end, Yu decided that Rie would accompany him to school, as the others were going to meet her anyway.

At school, everyone reacted as Yu expected when they saw Rie. Mostly, they didn't notice nor care until she started to float around, as she had been walking previously. Of course, Yu had to explain, and calm down his friends when they freaked, and do so in a way that wouldn't get the attention of the other students around. After they understood the situation, they were more or less fine with it, though they were still not exactly happy with it, naturally.

During class, Rie paid great attention to what was going on everywhere. Eventually, Yu accidentally dozed off, and when he woke, Rie accurately told him every detail of what he missed, much to his dismay; however, as it was in amazing detail, accounting every student's twitch, sneeze, etcetera. When he had waked, there was 30 minutes left in class. She wasn't even halfway done by the end of class, and not just because she saw a squirrel.

As soon as the lunch bell rang, Yu jumped out of his seat, running to the rooftop, getting many stares from fellow students when he yelled, "Shut up Rie, I don't want to know that at exactly 12:11 and 5 seconds, Tetsuo stifled a yawn while writing his damn math notes!"

Yu burst onto the roof, covering his ears as he sat down. For a second, he thought he was safe, and that the ghost would put a cork in it, but he unfortunately, and unwillingly, cringing when Rie continued her assault of information.

After a minute, Yu's friends were successful in getting the spirit to shut up, so they decided to just eat their food and forget that Masaso started to pick his nose 1.5 seconds after Yu fell asleep.

"I hear the school camping trip is coming up." Yosuke said, a piece of meat hanging from his mouth.

"Eat your meat before you talk, Yosuke." Chie told him, picking at her food. "Though it is true, however, you don't want to go. King Moron supervises, and all you do is you pick up trash. Something about 'having a love for your hometown,' I think."

Yosuke suddenly became depressed. "Are you sure about that?" He asked.

"Well that is what we did last year, and other high school students have talked about it in the halls. However, you do get the chance to go swimming, so it isn't all bad." Yukiko replied, adding to Yosuke's depressed state, and then his mind registered the swimming, and he brightened up.

Everyone ended up ignoring him, as they were more or less used to something like that. After a minute, King Moron burst through the door to the roof, stomping over to Yu. "I hope you didn't have any plans after school, Narukami," He yelled, "Because after your last class, you're filling in for a sick health club member. How ironic, am I right?" Without another word, he stomped off, leaving the students to stare at his retreating back, and wonder what the heck just happened.

After school, Yu walked to where the club was meant to meet, but he had a bad feeling, as the sign had a cobweb hanging off it. He walked inside, dreading what he would find. "Hey there," One of the three students gathered around a dusty table greeted. "Did you get hurt?"

Yu sighed inwardly. What a bland bunch these people were. "No, King Moron signed me up to fill in for a sick member without consulting me first. I'm here though, so tell me what to do." Yu answered, hoping would get something out of it that was worthwhile.

"OK then, good." One of the students answered. "We're going out to see if anyone needs anything, so you just have to watch over this place, and receive messages for us."

Yu shrugged, that was an easy job. So after they left, Yu spent his time taking with Rie, bored out of his mind as she started to relay the info he missed again, **from the beginning**. Then a knock on the door came.

Yu jumped out of the chair he had been sitting on, telling Rie to zip it. He opened the door and had a nice chat with man named Kitao, from Santo Inc. He wanted to know if the shipment for gauze could wait for two months. Yu told the man he wasn't in charge, but he figured that it was fine, and that the other members would call if there was a problem with it.

The man thanked him and left, leaving Yu alone with Rie again, who started to yammer again. After a bit of looking around, Yu found some cleaning supplies, so he started to obsessively clean the (Ironically) unsanitary area.

When the three students walked into the room, Yu was sure that they thought that they had walked into the wrong room. The only thing that told them it was the same room was the fact that Yu sat there, reading a book on medical related things that he found while cleaning. When he noticed the others, he lowered the book and said, "I got bored. Hope you guys don't mind."

"No, no, we don't." One of them said, looking around the now spotless room. "So did anyone come by while we were gone?" He asked.

Yu nodded, "Yeah, it was a…" He drew a complete blank on who it was that came by.

Rie piped up. "It was a man named Kitao from Santo Inc. He wanted to know if the gauze could wait for two months."

Yu smiled, silently thanking Rie for memorizing something important for once. "That's right! It was a man named Kitao from Santo Inc. He needed to know if the shipment for gauze you guys ordered could wait for another two months. I told him that I wasn't in charge, but I figured it could wait, and that you would call them up if you had a problem with it."

The group thanked him for filling in for Konishi-kun. As they were about to walk out the door, Yu stopped them. "Wait, Konishi?" He asked them.

The girl of the group smiled. "Yeah, Konishi-kun is Saki Konishi's brother, if you've met her." Yu nodded, now remembering his meeting with her a while back with Yosuke. "If you want, you can come back later, and he'll be here." She told him.

"I'll think about it." Yu told them, leaving the room, running into someone. "I'm sorry." Yu told the boy.

"Whatever," He said, looking at Yu, with a look of unhappiness. "Hey, you know my sister, correct? I think she was talking about you a week or so ago." He asked. Yu looked at him like he was crazy. He didn't know who he was talking about. "What about Hanamura then?"

Yu tilted his head. "You mean Yosuke? Who's your sister?"

"Are there any more Hanamuras in this school?" The boy shot back. "My sister is Saki Konishi."

"Right, sorry." Yu said. "What of it? I do know them both; you just confused me because you didn't specify who your sister was."

"It doesn't matter." The male Konishi told him, making Yu curious to know why he had asked in the first place. "Anyway, if you are to know me, then don't do so as Saki's brother, if you will. My name's Naoki." The boy told him. He then walked off. Yu was given the Hanged Man Arcana, though Yu wondered what he did to get it, other than meet the kid. He shrugged it off, and decided to head home.

At the house, Nanako greeted as expected, though it was a little quiet. He walked into the living room, and he found Naoto sleeping on the couch. He took a seat next to her, starting to read a book that was required for a class. Eventually, Naoto woke up, and they chatted a little on what happened at school.

"How was your day, stuck in the house?" Yu asked her.

"Not the best." She replied. "I woke around 12, and when I realized that it was a school day, I wasn't the happiest. I sat on your futon for about 20 minutes wondering where the heck I was, and when I figured that out, I wondered what I was going to do for the day. After that, I got up and watched the news until Nanako came home, so we talked a little, then I think I fell asleep again. I was actually so bored that while looking through the channels, I was tempted to watch My Little Pony."

"Yeah sorry, I probably should have left a note saying where I keep my books. They're in a bit of a weird place." Yu said, remembering that he probably shouldn't have left his friend with nothing to do all day, expect watch the news or whatever kid show Nanako had recorded. (Or My Little Pony) "Anyway, I have my tutoring job tonight, so if you want, I could accompany you home, should you feel up to it." He suggested.

She nodded. "Yeah, the wound that ghost knife or whatever it was is healing at an unnatural pace, I have to say. It's sore, but there is little sign the accident happened to begin with. The scratch Nanako got was completely gone by the time she got up, apparently."

Yu, curious, called Rie over. "Hey, what the hell is up with the knives you were throwing around last night? The wounds you inflicted with them are almost gone."

Rie cocked her head to the side. "Did I forget to explain that?" She asked. "Oops. Well, the thing is that those knives aren't real in a technical sense, and because I didn't want to kill you guys, the wounds disappear quickly, so no one who doesn't know about me; won't."

No one questioned the strange logic, after all, a ghost was living with them, and they were acting like it was normal.

After dinner, Yu and Naoto left the house. Yu decided that he would drop Naoto off at her place first, and that she would return his shirt that she was still wear later. After doing that, Yu walked to Shu's house.

At said house, they started right away. About 30 minutes later, they finished everything that Shu had to do that night, and then some. They gathered around the table as Shu's mother came in.

"Do you think that Shu will get into Tokyo University?" She asked him, surprising Yu. Though with some thought, one might have seen that coming. The lady started to go off about how a good college should 'set' him, and all sorts of other things. After a while, she gave it a rest and went to get some tea, as she had talked way too much.

Shu looked at him. "Is it true I'm 'set' if I get into a good college?"

Yu shook his head. "I'm going to be straight with you. No way, even if you graduate with flying colors, you still have to find a job, and then you might not get it because you can't apply the things you learned in a practical sense or something else that will drag you down."

Shu sighed. "Mom talks like I'm already 'set' but I don't even know what that means!" He looked down at the floor. "Raison d'etre." He uttered. Yu wasn't quite sure if he had heard the boy correctly. "Do you know what that means?"

Yu nodded. "Course, it means the most important reason for a person's existence, does it not?"

"It doesn't matter." Shu told him, making it the second time that day he heard someone that held a Social Link tell him that. "All I have is my mom. Everyone my age is a little kid, and none of them are very bright." He looked back at his work. "Oh, we forgot to finish this one!"

Yu got up and looked at the problem he was pointing to. "Sure enough, I have nothing to do except go home, so let's finish it." He told the Tower Arcana holder.

"You know you won't get any overtime for this, right?" He asked. Yu nodded, he was aware. They spent 30 seconds on it, and Yu was out the door, with a nice 10,000 yen in his pocket.

* * *

><p><strong>YOU DON'T HAVE TO READ THIS, IT'S A RANT ABOUT MAJORA'S MASK'S NEW MOON MODEL! THOUGH IT IS POSSIBLE THAT IT WILL BE FUNNY TO YOU, BUT THAT'S YOU. ALSO, IT ISN'T BASHING ALL OF THE REMAKE, OTHER THAN THE FACT THAT I CAN'T BUY IT BECAUSE I BLEW MY MONEY ON PERSONA Q! (NO REGRETS THOUGH) <strong>

**OK, now that is out of the way, I think that, from what I have seen from the trailer, the new model looks fat.**

**I have a problem with this because unless a fat guy with a scowling problem is pointing a gun at your head, he probably isn't going to be frightening! That, or he is about to fall on you. You should only really fear the dude if you're the skinny frail nerdy kid that's walking in front of the fat guy that can't see his own feet, and therefore, the block of wood about to trip him, causing him to fall on you!**

**NOTE: I looked at a comparison of models, and I figured out, the problem is the NOSE! The thing is fucking giant for a face that's on the fucking moon! It's bulbous!  
><strong>


	15. Beginning Of The Scooter Plan

**Alright, as of this day, I will probably be uploading two chapters a day, one in the morning and one in the evening on the weekends. I hope I can actually manage that. Like I said, trying to keep up with the current way is rather weird. That's just me though. **

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><p>Chapter 15<p>

Yu was pulling his supplies that he put in his desk, out. Then Yosuke happened.

"Hey dude, guess what I just heard?!" He yelled in Yu's ear. Yu raised an eyebrow, not sure how to respond, not that he needed to, as Yosuke continued talking anyway. "When they're sitting in back of you, it's like a squeeze play!"

Yu was now really confused. "Are you putting together a baseball team or something?" He asked.

Yosuke looked as confused as Yu was. "No, nothing about, whatever you happen to be talking about!" He yelled. "Sorry, I guess I forgot that you didn't know what I was talking about."

"No duh," Yu told him, getting a glare from his friend.

"Alright, what I meant was," Yosuke started over. "When a girl is riding with you on a motorcycle, they press right up against your back!"

This perked Yu interest though he didn't have any girl that he particularly liked at that moment. "A motorcycle, interesting," he noted.

"Yeah, it's amazing! Let's get our licenses, and go get some babes!" Yosuke said, lowering his voice to avoid unnecessary attention, though he had caught a couple people's just from what he said that confused Yu, and then Yu's comment about the baseball team.

"Yeah, sure, I think that with the money I get from all of my jobs, I will be able to get one soon."

"Good for you," Yosuke said with a groan. "With my part-time job, I'll only get a scooter."

Yu snorted, finding Yosuke sudden despair to be quite humorous. Then Kanji happened. Yosuke filled him in when he asked, but he got the wrong idea.

"Hell yeah, if you're going to beat up some bikers, you can count me in!" He yelled. Yosuke groaned and re-explained what they wanted the bikes for. Kanji laughed. "Didn't I hear you say that you could only have a scooter though? You aren't allowed to ride two per scooter dude."

Yosuke's face turned into one of dramatic shock as he fell to his hands and knees, whining. He jumped up suddenly, determined. "It will work!" He yelled. "We're from the city, we should be caged here with nowhere to go! Even with scooters, we'll do everything we can, and we will get some hot chicks!"

Yu rolled his eyes, but didn't question it, instead running straight home to await his uncle to get home so he could request a license.

It was a stupid mistake that Yu ran home. He could have walked even, and then he wouldn't be sitting in front of the TV watching My Little Pony in boredness. However, it was his stupid mistake.

Finally, at around 5:00, he decided to run out to talk to the fox. At the shrine, the general 'you helped' message was conveyed, as well as the 'prices have been lowered by such and such amount,' and the fox gave him the next ema. It read, 'I wish I was better at speaking.'

Yu could tell it was a girl that wanted to speak to a boy, more than likely at Yasogami High. Yu swore to himself, as it was too late to find her with almost no difficulty. Yu sighed and thanked the fox, walking away in half defeat.

When Yu walked into the living room, he found his uncle was sitting there with Adachi, having some dinner.

"Hey there, Yu-kun." Adachi greeted. "Want some eel. You might want to think about it, it's from the supermarket." Yu snorted, and Dojima acted like he was offended. "No Dojima-san, it's good, I was just joking because it was on sale, and it looks kind of cheap!" Adachi tried to cheer up his boss.

"I'm sorry that Adachi's here, Yu, but he eats instant ramen everyday for lunch and dinner, so I dragged him here for a better meal."

Yu nodded, getting the thinking behind Dojima's decision. Adachi attempted a bad joke, but it didn't work. Dojima argued with his co-worker for a bit, before Adachi shut his mouth and ate his food.

Dojima looked up. "What's up? Find it amusing to watch us bicker?"

Yu laughed. "Well, it's really amusing. Anyway, I was thinking about getting a motorcycle license."

Dojima sighed. "You're old enough for one, aren't you? I don't know about it."

Adachi spoke up. "Don't be a spoilsport Dojima-san! I know how he feels, having a want to go somewhere, but having nowhere to go!"

Dojima sighed. "Fine, but don't make me regret it, got it?"

Yu saluted dramatically. "Yes sir, Dojima-san sir!" He called, and watched Dojima's rather humorous reaction to it.

* * *

><p>(9th) (Thursday)<p>

After school let out, Yu and Yosuke walked to the bus, which they boarded, and went to the place with all of the cool stuff and exams. Yu took one look at the test when he got it, and started writing down the answers with ease. Not even 10 minutes later, Yu had finished, and passed.

The two victoriously jumped out of the bus 30 minutes later with delight seeping from their pores. (A little over the top, but it's funny nevertheless) As they walked away from the bus stop, they spotted Dojima. Running over, Yosuke asked, "Hey, what are you doing?"

"We needed some gas, nothing much. We also had to take care of some 'minor business.'" Dojima answered. "Where were you?"

Yu smiled. "Why don't you take a guess?"

Dojima sighed. "Yeah, I should have guessed when I saw you come off the bus." Yu handed the license out to him with a smile. "Good job."

Yosuke smiled. "Alright, you have the OK! I need to head home and read the catalog!" Yosuke then took his leave after nodding to Dojima.

"Alright then, hold on a second Yu." Dojima turned his head, yelling, "Adachi, can you bring it over here?" Adachi briefly called back, and then came over, wheeling a scooter with him. "This is my old scooter. When you said that you wanted your license, I decided to fix it up. It's old, but it should work until you can save enough money for a better one."

Yu wasn't sure how to respond. "Thank you." He said, walking up to the scooter. He hopped on, starting the engine.

"I won't bug you about traffic laws, but be safe, OK?" Dojima told him, and Yu gave him a thumbs-up, before driving away to get used to the vehicle.

After getting home, Yu decided to walk around town and see his Social Links. Along the way, he ran into Ai and was dragged into the city. She shopped around a bit. She couldn't find anything though. "I'm thirsty; go get me an ice latte." She commanded.

Yu scowled. "Go buy it yourself." He said, clearly annoyed, but trying his best to suppress it.

Ai had a shocked look on her face. "Wow, you are the only boy that has every taken such a tone with me." Then a random salesperson happened. Ai dragged Yu away as fast as possible.

Outside, in the station, Ai sighed as she sloughed in her seat. "I hate sales people." She groaned.

"They're a pain, aren't they?" Yu asked, getting a smile from Ai. For some reason, that strengthened the bond they had. They then went home. (How amazing.)

At home, Yu ate his dinner, and then headed to the tower link house, as he wanted to start calling it. After they were done with the tutoring, Shu asked, "What do you think about your school?"

Yu smiled. "Well, it's annoying because of this one teacher, but other than that, it's fun, if not a little boring."

Shu smiled. "Yeah, that's what I thought for a while too. Anyway, we have a transfer student in our class. He says that we're just a bunch of hicks in the boonies. No one pays any attention to him though."

"Well, it IS the countryside." Yu responded, getting a light laugh out of the boy.

After he stopped laughing, he REALLY stopped. "School is a pain. The lessons are pointless, and everyone is stupid. I can at least understand the lessons you teach."

"Hey, look on the bright side Shu. You don't have to deal with though kids that think that they are the best thing to every happen to planet Earth. I've had to deal with plenty of them." Yu told the boy in an attempt to make him feel better about being surrounded by idiots.

Shu laughed some more. "Are you serious?" He questioned. Yu had a serious face on, giving the boy his answer. They both laughed when Yu couldn't hold the face anymore. The Social Link advanced, 'shockingly'. Time was up, so Yu left without another word, except a 'thank you' for the crap ton of money he got.

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><p><strong>I believe one or two chapters later is when the scooter thing happens, and it turned out quite good, considering the power turned off on me that day and I lost a small part of it. Luckily, it wasn't much thanks to auto-save. I hadn't saved much that day, so I was really worried.<strong>


	16. Social Links!

**This can hardly be considered a chapter, but I think I may have been lazy while making it. As such, it doesn't even have 1100 words in it! Without the Author's Note that I have here, it hardly pushes one thousand words. Like I typed down a minute ago (Not that anyone is keeping track, as I am doing this alone.) I think I was a little too lazy for my own good, and now I'm too lazy to shove it into the next chapter and just combine them. Whatever man, that's your problem not mine. What is my problem though, is the fact that it now has 1114 words in it (at the '1114') so now it undoes what I typed at the beginning.**

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><p>Chapter 16<p>

(10th) (Friday)

Yu rode his scooter around town after hanging out with Ai and somehow getting an increase to the Social Link, despite just suggesting chilling out at the mall. He got homelessly lost a number of times, but finally, he was able to know the place like the back of his hand. Now he needed to expand where he was going.

When he was almost home, he ran into Adachi, and dragged him home for some decent dinner. They had a nice chat about stew, and Yu's cooking skills, but there wasn't anything exciting happening. And then Adachi preformed magic, making a 500-yen coin disappear, shocking Nanako a bunch, and she requested him to do it again. So he decided to do better. Somehow, he placed the yen in Yu's pocket.

"I hope you know that I'm keeping this." Yu said.

"Hang on now, I need that!" Adachi yelled, reaching over and snatching the yen from Yu's open, unresisting palm. He sniffed the air while Yu went into a momentary trance of advancing Social Links. "I think the shoe's ready." He joked.

"It's pronounced STEW!" Nanako corrected him.

"You mean shiatsu?" Adachi asked, clearly teasing the girl.

"No, shoe!" She yelled.

"Ha, wrong!" Adachi yelled, confusing the poor child.

"No, I said it correctly!" Nanako yelled.

"No, you said it was a shoe." Adachi informed her of the mistake.

* * *

><p>(11th) (Saturday)<p>

After school, Yu figured he should start on Kanji's Social Link. He walked up to him and said, "I have a bone to pick with you!" In all reality, he didn't, but it started the link regardless.

Outside, Kanji asked, "What's the problem?"

Yu shrugged. "I got nothing. I just wanted a reason to hang out with you."

Kanji was confused. "I don't quite get your reasoning behind yelling at me that you had a problem with something that involved me, and then you say that it's nothing? The hell is up with your thought process man?"

Yu shrugged again. "I don't know. At one point in my life my train of thought was derailed, and it was never quite the same…"

Kanji wasn't sure how to respond. "Um, OK then, that isn't really relevant. Anyway, I hear from all sorts of people these days that you're the best with listening to a person's problems, and helping them through it. How's that working out for you?"

Yu smiled. "I wasn't aware that I was getting that much attention. It's not bad, but really time consuming. Speaking of which, I just remembered that I'm helping out a fox at the shrine fulfill the ema, and the one I'm on now is at the school. Want to come?" Kanji shrugged, and they went to the school. Yu found the girl and gave her some lessons, promising to check back and see how it went with the guy she liked.

Kanji whistled. "That was smooth. Maybe you could teach me to be that smooth someday."

Yu patted Kanji's shoulder. "One thing at a time, dude." Emperor Arcana obtained.

* * *

><p>(Night)<p>

Yu went to Shu's house. After the lesson, they started the chat they always have afterwards. "I have a hard time learning English." Shu confessed."I mean, I can memorize it when it's in a textbook, but… I don't understand it, its working, grammar, ect. The teacher doesn't help. She doesn't get that I can't understand the language itself, like trying to talk. Teachers don't get what it means to learn by the time they get the job."

"Not always, but for some, that it true." Yu told him.

Shu laughed lightly. "At least I can understand that students are judged by their test scores. You know that transfer student? Well, he's good, but he can't beat me. So suddenly the transfer student is the stupid one. No one even talks to him because he acts like he's everything. Why do I have to go to school? It's so stupid.

"Everyone has to go!" Yu scolded.

"Yeah, you're right." Shu started to think. "You know, Yasogami actually looks fun. At least, you make it seem like it." The Social Link increased to 4.

* * *

><p>(12th) (Sunday)<p>

Yu dragged Yosuke to the hill overlooking the town. When they got there, Yu asked, "Did those girls ever get off your back about work?"

Yosuke smiled. "Actually, without me knowing, Saki-senpai went over and scolded them for bashing me about it. I didn't quite expect it when Saki-senpai dragged them over to me, and forced them to apologize."

Yosuke walked over to the fence. "You know, my Shadow badmouthed me about hating Inaba, but now that I'm looking at it from here, it's an amazing place to live." He smiled, and then faced Yu. "Can you do something for me?"

Yu looked him, and asked, "What is it?"

"In the TV, you're always one-upping everyone, so I don't feel like I'm equal, so I want to fight you. I want to know where I truly stand in the pecking order of our group."

Yu nodded. "If you say so. No Demon Powers though, alright?"

Youske smiled. "Duh, what gave you that idea?" He held his fists up. "Ready?"

Yu held up his fists, and then they swung.

10 minutes later, they were both lying on the ground, only half awake. "I think that it's safe to say that you're the group's Beta." Yu breathed.

"What?" Youske questioned.

Yu sighed; he should have known this, no matter how little he paid attention. "In the terms of wolves, a Beta is the second in command. If the Alpha is gone, the Beta gives commands. I think you can handle it."

Yosuke smiled. "Thanks, I have to say that I'm really jealous of you though, I thought that you would be bored here, but NO!" He handed Yu a **buddy bandage.** "Don't go and die now."

Yosuke, finally finding peace, or whatever happened, finally got his new Persona, Susano-o, apparently a spinning saw enthusiast. They sat up. "Dude, my Persona changed. Cool."

With that amazing thing, the Magician Social Link was finished, and Yu had to drag Yosuke home because he passed out.

Nothing interesting happened at night.

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><p><strong>Like I said, I was lazy, but hey, I finished Yosuke's Social Link, which really should have been completed first, but I got out of the SUPER lazy Social Link phase in the middle of it, so that's why this is so pathetic. However, now I want Yosuke's nickname for Yu to be Alpha, because it makes sense to me. I don't really care what the hell you people say, I mean, it's really up to me, I'm the goddamn Author, I do what I want!<strong>

**Unrelated, now it has 1367 words. So I guess it wasn't the worst thing I have ever typed up. Seriously, you haven't seen anything until you've seen the random shit I typed when I first typed up stories for the heck of it. Next on "Author's Note" what happened with my first "Story," if you can even call it that!**


	17. Up Close and Personal Plan In Effect

**Clearly one of my longer chapters, because of the up close and personal plan thing. It was worth it. I was working on this that one day, you know the one where the power when out. That didn't happen to you? Well, you don't live in Oregon then, where for a week or so, it was so windy you couldn't throw a Frisbee without it flying off into the nowhere.**

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><p>Chapter 17<p>

(13th) (Monday)

Though it was against his better judgment, Yu decided to hang with Yukiko after school was over. She dragged him to Junes. She started to half-mentally go over a list.

"What do you need all of that stuff for?" Yu asked.

"I'm thinking of studying to get a job license. I want all of this to help with it." She replied with a smile. "Those jobs you told me about, the origami and translating, I'm doing them at night, when no one is going to see me. Thank to that, I have some money now." She smiled happily.

Then some creeps in suits walked up. "Hello, there Yukiko-san, manager-to-be of the Amagi inn."

"Would it kill you to give it a rest already?" Yukiko asked them coldly.

"Yeah, it probably would." One of them replied. "Whatever, we need to go see if the train will come soon so we can get out." They walked away, while Yu and Yukiko watched.

"What was that?" Yu asked.

"I'm sorry; they're on this strange network about old historical sites that need to be torn down or something. I hate it. If that airs, then problems would arise for the inn. Maybe then I would feel better about leaving."

"You're kidding me right?" Yu asked.

"No, I'm not." Yukiko muttered with a sigh. "I can't let those morons get to me though. I'm going to leave anyway, right?" Yukiko smiled warmly. "Thanks for listening to that, that really helps, you know?"

Yu suddenly got a bad feeling that the Social Link wasn't going to revolve around her cooking (Thank God) but was instead going to center in on the creeps from 1 minute ago.

Once again, Yu was left to do nothing at home that night, expect be bothered by Rie, but he tuned her blabbering out.

* * *

><p>(14th) (Tuesday)<p>

While walking to school, Yu unluckily got stuck behind two idiots, and didn't want to hurry up to go past them. They were complaining about the campout. Was it really that bad?

After that, and managing to survive school, Yu decided to go hang with Naoki and the health club. First, he ran over to talk to the girl that had some speaking issues. Turns out that the boy was quite happy with her, and they were dating. Yu reminded her to pay the shrine, and she ran off.

Yu then returned to the inside, though he was now curious to know why she was out in the rain, and walked to the health club's room, finding it to be really dirty again. He walked in and started to chat with Naoki, when the intercom called them all together. When they gathered, the rest questioned why Yu was there again.

"I figured that I might as well help out some, if anything, for the cleaning." Yu replied, looking at the filthy-ness of the room. "How is it that bad already?"

"Thanks man, everyone is gone on dates or something. Man, Konishi's lucky. For some reason, everyone has to be nice to him, and give him easy jobs, just because Saki-senpai's super amazing at everything, and is really respected."

Naoki walked in, a look of slight anger on his face. Yu remembered that the day he met him, he was asked to remember the boy for him, not his sister. Yu had a good idea that Naoki didn't like to be compared to his sister, though he was anyway.

Everyone shut up. "Alright, to work; everyone, right now!" The girl of the group called out, and everyone obeyed without another word.

After Yu had cleaned the room thoroughly, and helped a little with inventory, he was allowed to leave. He wandered around a bit, and then walked slowly to the shoe lockers, wondering what the Social Link would be about as a whole. He found Naoki gathering his shoes from his locker. He turned around.

"What are you still doing here; you could have left 10 minutes ago." Yu told him.

"Same to you." Naoki shot back. He sighed. "I don't want to go home. I'm always compared to my sister's work in everything, and home isn't exactly a sanctuary." He informed Yu. "Don't worry about it. If you keep coming, you might be able to pry some more out of me, but for now, not so much."

"Sounds like a challenge." Yu said with a smirk. "And I accept."

"Don't forget to come often then." Naoki smirked with a sort of completive nature as Yu fished his shoes from the locker that held them.

"Don't worry about that." Yu assured him as he finished putting on his shoes and left the building.

That night, Yu decided to tutor Shu, having nothing else to do. Sadly, Rie followed him, and he had to tell her to relay what happened that day to the mother, praying that she forgot that normal people couldn't see or hear her. Luckily, she did, and when Yu when upstairs, Rie remained with the mother, saying everything she saw that day.

'Well, that's one problem solved, and I haven't even entered the room.' Yu thought as he finished climbing the stairs, hearing Rie in the background talk about the things that she saw with Nanako at school.

"Morning!" Yu greeted the boy cheerfully.

"But it's nighttime." Shu told him.

"I know," Yu informed the boy that he knew of the time. "But it has to be morning somewhere, otherwise tomorrow is going to the majorly disappointing." Shu stopped to think about the logic behind his words, before agreeing wholeheartedly. They studied most of the night away.

After they were done, they started the now completely normal after study chat. "Is it me, or is English all about memorizing it? Math is like that, at least. You just have to know where to use which ones. Tests are all about them too. If you forget, too bad, you suck in life." Shu smiled when Yu laughed at his statement, because it was true. This suddenly got serious. "Tell me the truth; are there any bullies in your school?"

Yu sighed; he should have seen this one coming a mile away with the transfer student thing going around. "Shu, I'm in high school, there probably is. However, they keep a tight grip on it, so I actually don't think so."

Shu smiled gleefully. "That's good!" He exclaimed. "I guess that I should expect it, but still, some teens aren't very smart. Yu laughed as he remembered Yosuke rolling around in a trash can. Shu unexpectedly became unhappy. "They aren't doing anything physical, but the students at school are bullying the transfer kid. If anything, he doesn't have a place here in Inaba."

"Let me deal with it then." Yu spoke up, hoping to help the boy's mood.

Shu looked up at him, a smile slowing creeping onto his face. "Sensei, are you serious? Thanks; that will really clear my conscience. You know, I realized that we aren't really talking about studying anymore."

Yu waved it off. "No, I don't mind. It's good to get some things off your chest that you can't talk to your mom about. It's no good to bottle it up." Shu muttered a thank you, and asked for him to come again. "Well, duh." Yu replied. "You and the nurse down at the hospital are the only people I have to talk to at night now. Course I'll come back."

Yu left with a large sum of money, a chance to make better Tower Personas, and a good friend from the little prick that Yu hated when they first met.

* * *

><p>(15th) (Wednesday)<p>

Yu calmly walked down the road to the school, the white pup following at his heels. Yosuke ran up, yelling, "Hey, you remember the plan, right Alpha?"

Yu looked at him, and sighed. "I thought you wanted it to be somewhat, I don't know, NOT ANNOUNCED TO THE WHOLE WORLD!"

Yosuke cringed. "Oops." He muttered. "Anyway, I got a bike, and I'm ready to go to the city to get some babes. Are you as pumped as I am?"

Yu rolled his eyes. Yosuke could be so childish sometimes. "Yes, Yosuke, I'm sure I am. Just try not to scare anyone off."

Yosuke glared daggers at Yu. "I'm not going to scare them off! If anything, you will. You're so cold and uncaring sometimes, and it makes me wonder how anyone likes you when you get so mean." He sighed heavily, like he was trying to make Yu feel like he was the bad guy. "Whatever man, after school, let's get our bikes and go to the city, right?" Yu nodded.

Yu thought school would never end, but finally, he was riding behind Yosuke to the city. They came to a stop. Yosuke looked at him with a grin plastered to his face. He almost removed his helmet, but Yu smacked his hands away.

"Moron," he muttered. "We need to take them off where no one will see us. We had to do that to get them on remember?"

Yosuke sighed as he remembered how annoying their ears can get sometimes. They had to hide behind some trees just to put on their brain-buckets, but in a city, taking them off would be a freaking pain without looking suspicious.

Yosuke looked behind them, finding no one was there, then threw his head back as he removed the helmet, and placed his hat on a second later. "There, no one saw, it wasn't that hard. You try Alpha."

Yu looked around, trying to not look stupid while doing so, then mimicked Yosuke's action, welcoming the cool feel of the hat on his head compared to the hot interior of the helmet. "OK, now that that's done; what now?" He asked Yosuke.

"What are you asking me for?!" Yosuke asked him.

"You devised the plan; you should have had it worked out by now. Why do I get the feeling that you wanted me to come up with what we were doing to get someone to notice us?"

Yosuke sighed. "Because that's what I did expect! You're the Alpha, you make the decisions!"

Yu sighed, and then his trained hearing picked up sounds coming from the road they were on. He easily identified the person as Kanji, who somehow had not been far behind. He had said that he would come along on his bicycle, but Yu didn't expect him to actually make it, let alone in the same 10 minutes as them.

The two watched in shock as he stopped next to them. "That was a nice workout, but nothing more!" He said, lightly panting. "You guys are easy to keep up with, you're still trying to get used to your scooters."

Yosuke scoffed. "Please. You had time to catch up when I ran out of gas and had to push the thing to the nearest gas station. Anyways, got any bright ideas on how to get the ladies to talk to us?"

"There are plenty of people around, we just have to find one that might match our type, and say hello to them." Kanji answered simply.

"OK then, I have a great idea." Yu said. "Let's make it a contest to see who can get a girl's number first."

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this, you are a bit of a chick magnet when you want to be." Yosuke complained. "You should have to get two so it evens out a little."

Yu rolled his eyes, a smirk growing on his face. "Fine, but what if the girl is stubborn, and wants you to give her your number, and won't except it if you want her number?

"You can give her your number, but if she doesn't call by the end of the day, it doesn't count." Yosuke answered, walking away to find his first girl.

Yu glanced at Kanji, who didn't look very confident. He didn't quite get that some girls might like a guy that is a bit soft, even if he did cover it up. Yu figured that he should only tell him that after the contest was over, so he just muttered, "Good luck Kanji," and walked away.

The first girl that he tried was a neatly dress girl that seemed a bit shy. She spurted some nonsense, but they hit it off quite well. Then he asked for her number. Big mistake.

Her response was this… "A cell phone?! Ugh…! Those are the product of human greed. They emit poisonous waves that will brainwash you! If you don't get rid of yours this instant…" She continued to rant until Yu pointed at something, saying that God was watching, and she turned around to see, at which point Yu ran away as fast as possible.

He stopped, panting lightly, by two flashy girls. They were talking about something random, but Yu decided that he might as well try. "Hey there." He said to them.

"Are you trying to talk to us?" One of them asked.

"Well, he is kind of cute, when you think about it." The other said rather loudly. "Where do you live, I haven't seen you before."

"I'm in Inaba until spring." He answered.

"Inaba? I hear it's so dead over there that the farm animals have taken over!" The less loud one laughed.

The loud one laughed even more than the other one. "It's like in that book we read! Let us hear you squeal, country boy!"

Yu shrugged. "Why not, if you want." He let out a squeal that sounded like a frighten pig. This cracked the two up even more.

"Do you do that to keep your pig overlords happy? I bet that you're actually a pig's pet!" The loud one screeched.

Yu started to chat with the girls, finding that beyond their annoying exteriors, they were actually quite fun.

The less loud one smiled. "Hey, give me your number, I'll call you when I get bored."

"Sure," Yu answered, pulling out his cell, giving her the number. She entered it into her phone, and then gave her friend it as well. While they were doing that, Yu texted to the others, "Gave two girls my number. I have a feeling that's more than you will get."

He bid the girls a good day, and walked over to his scooter, looking around the perimeter for any girls that stuck out. He talked to some people, had a nice chat with a young girl in Spanish, talked with some housewives, got some advice from an officer, pet a cat… wasn't he trying to do something?

He was about to give up finding any more women, but then he saw an amazing lady walking down the stair. He walked up to her. "Hey there, you here alone?" He asked her.

"Well, I'm waiting for someone. Are you trying to hit on me? You know, I like younger boys. They're so sweet and innocent. How do you feel about older women?" She asked.

"I love them." Yu answered, though he was really lying. He was just trying to get the girls number so he could win the bet.

"We make a good match then." The pretty girl said. "You want to hang out later? No today, and not if you don't want to, but if you want, I could teach you about how grown up's play… What do you say, you want to play with me?"

Yu felt that he got a good picture of what the girl was talking about, but he faked ignorance and asked, "What shall we play?"

The lady laughed lightly. "I think it will be easier to show you rather than explain. However, I'm doing something today, so maybe another day. Here's my number. Call me later, I'll be waiting…"

Yu skedaddled away from her as fast as possible, met with his friends. "Alright, who got what?"

"I got zip." Kanji muttered sadly.

"I got something." Yosuke said.

"I gave my number to two flashy girls, and got the number of a pretty older women, but wasn't so old that she was way too far out." Yu said, getting stares from the other boys, though they all kind of expected as much.

"You go first Alpha, try to get a hold of her." Yosuke begged.

Yu pulled out his phone, scrolling until he found the recently added contact. He pressed 'call,' and listened to the ringing. He heard the sound of someone picking up. "Hello?" He asked.

The person on the other end wasn't amused by his calling. "Oh, I get it!" He yelled, confusing Yu. "You were trying to hit on my girl, is that right?! I'll rip of your head and spit down your neck if you dare call again!" The man hung up.

"Dude, I could hear it from here, and I wasn't even trying to." Yosuke said, obviously feeling bad for his friend. "That's the risk you have with this sort of thing, but still…" All three of them sighed as Yu removed the contact from his phone. "Me next then." Yosuke pulled out his cell, scrolling through the contacts.

He held the phone to his ear. Someone picked up. "Yosuke-kun?" The girl asked.

"Yep, that's me, the guy that asked you on a motorcycle ride. Wait, I didn't tell you my name…"

"Well, we do go to the same school, after all. Of course I know your name!" The girl said happily.

Yosuke's face turned to one of horror. "That voice, going to the same school…" He muttered. "No, it isn't possible." Yu and Kanji glanced at each other, not sure what was happening.

"How did you get my number?" The girl asked. "It's Hanako Ohtani, who'd you think it was?"

Yosuke hung up. "Maybe, just maybe, I called the wrong number." He looked at the contact, ensured it was right, and then called again.

Once again, Hanako answered. "You really want to go on a date with me that much?"

Yosuke hung up, swiftly deleting the contact from his phone's memory. "What was that?" Kanji asked, voicing what Yu was wondering.

"Forget it, you don't want to know. This number is dangerous." Yosuke answered quietly.

Some fat girl walked over, speaking to them. "Oh, it's you guys." Yu recognized the voice from Yosuke's phone call. She walked over to them.

"Hanako…" Yosuke stuttered, seeming to purposely leave off the honorific. "What are you doing here?"

"The country is no place for a girl like me." She answered. "I was taking a walk when I got a call."

Yu studied the girl. 'She was taking a walk?! How can she even stand with that much weight?!' He wondered.

"You're really into me, aren't you Yosuke-kun?" She asked. "A motorcycle date, huh? Well, if you want to take a ride that much, I'll go with you." She jumped onto the scooter.

Time went into slow-motion as Yosuke yelled, "Wait!" He reached out, a sad attempt to stop her. As soon as her butt touched the seat, there was a cracking sound, and pieces of the bike flew everywhere. "NOOOOOO!" Yosuke screamed in distress, falling to knees.

Hanako looked around at the pieces. "This scooter is broken." She stated. "If you want to take me out, you have to do better than that." She jumped up off the wreckage. "See you later." She then disappeared, something that should be impossible for a girl that size.

"Am I cursed?" Yosuke asked no one in particular. "Did I insult a gypsy without knowing it?"

"I'll call a tow truck; see what we can do to get it out of the street." Yu said indifferently, pulling out his cell.

A tow trunk came over to see the damage. "Thing's probably totaled." He said, not even seeing more of the pieces that went flying. "I'll get it out of the way, but you better off buying a new one, that thing will cost more to fix." Yosuke groaned as he started to the station, fishing out his wallet to pay for the trip home.

After eating his dinner, Yu went to the hospital. He was starting to wonder why he went when it was an unsavory job. He was almost done with his shift when he saw an old lady walk up to him. He stopped and looked at her. She was familiar…

"Good evening." She greeted with a smile. "I think I saw you a while ago. Forgive me for staring at you that time. You remind me of someone I knew." Alarm bells went off in Yu's head. She had been real! And 'knew,' that didn't sound happy, considering she was in a mourning dress. "Do you work here?"

"Only part-time." Yu answered, trying to not freak at the sight of the strange old lady.

"My, is that so. How wonderful." She responded. "I have a granddaughter about your age. She left today though. When I think about it, meeting you here is a wonder. I won't be coming back though."

"Why were you here to begin with?" Yu asked, now curious.

The old lady merely laughed. "This town isn't big. With any luck, we might see each other again. On my days off, I like to soak up the sun by the riverbank. The river sparkles brilliantly; it's so pretty, that it saddens me. Ah, I must be going now." The old women took her leave.

Then Yu had to go through some nonsense with the nurse. Something about how everyone left once they were healthy. Yu didn't care. He was too tired.

* * *

><p><strong>Alright, now that that's done, I'm starting to wonder who actually reads these Author's Notes. They can be amusing to write though, so I don't care.<strong>

**Anyway, last chapter (Or was it the one before that...?) I said/typed that I would put something up about my first attempt at making a real story. Course, I think I'm more cut out for fan-fiction. Having to make up characters are really annoying.**

**Anyways, it was about dragons. I loved the things when I was a kid, and I still do. Back on track it was about how tiny (At least that's how I imagined them) dragons lived in a floating city, hiding from the humans that would seek to kill them. What basically equated to maintenance worker and a sort of prince fall of, and the prince can't fly, so they are stuck on the ground because the city for some reason moves over time.**

**It was a really strange idea. Kind of cute, but nothing amazing.**


	18. The School's Rather Sad Camping Trip

**The school's campout! Yeah! It's not as good as one might want, but that's your problem. It's always your problem unless I make a horrible mistake that changes the whole story outcome. Forgetting Marie might be a good example of that. I will try not to.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 18<p>

(16th) (Thursday)

After school, Yu, Yosuke, Yukiko, and Chie all went to Junes to prepare for the camping trip later. As Yu listened to the conversation that the two girls were holding, he remembered that Yukiko was a worse cook that a completely wasted man who couldn't even think straight.

He ran off, looking for something that could be eaten without anyone's knowledge. The girls deserved it if they had nothing by slime to eat, while at least Yosuke deserved something good, after what happened to his bike the other day. He sent a text to him, saying, "Get some snacks we can eat in our tent. The girls are cooking, and from my experience, Yukiko can't cook for shit."

He looked around after sending the text. He found a can of olives, so he picked it up, grabbing some other things that might tide them over 'til the morning. He paid for the items, and hid the bag from the girls. He then listened to the girls some more. Frightened, he tried to tell them that having both colors of peppers wasn't necessary, but they disregarded him. 'Fine,' he thought. 'I won't feel sorry for you when all you have to eat is the mystery that you create. I tried to tell you.'

After that horrific experience, Yu went straight to Shu's house, not feeling up to eating that day. He explained some English homework, like usual.

"People who grow up speaking a different language think in their native tongue, right?" He asked.

"Well, it's unlikely that they would think in Japanese if the only know English." Yu replied.

Shu shrugged."There's going to be a fair soon commemorating the founding of our school. We had to discuss what our class was going to do, and all of the girls were being noisy." He sighed heavily.

"Didn't you join in?" Yu asked.

"Nah, I didn't want to. Everyone's stupid about it anyway." Shu answered.

"All kids are like that at some point in their life. There are plenty of stupid high school students like that too." Yu told him.

"Are you saying that you were like that too?" Shu asked him. "It that how it is?" Shu looked at him curiously. "Every day is like that, then when I get home, mom's jumping all over me. 'You're excellent!' 'You can be #1!'" He imitated her voice. "'Mom's proud of you!' 'You're my pride and joy!' Shu looked down, seeming to be worried about something. "You only come here because my mom pays you a lot, huh?"

"Well, that was a reason for a while, but I have quite a bit of money now, and I'm really here now for you. To help you with anything you need, school-related or not." Yu answered.

Shu smiled happily. "Thank you Sensei. You know, for a long time, all I ever did was to and from school from home. Even though that's a thing, I'm really starting to look forward to the days that you come now."

Yu left that day feeling quite good, and quite hungry, as his appetite got over the food that the girls would be cooking.

* * *

><p>(18th) (Friday)<p>

The first day of the camping trip. Yu walked to school with a sense of dread, and he checked multiple times to ensure that he didn't forget the food he brought to prevent starvation. He didn't want to taste anymore of Yukiko's cooking if he had to.

Yosuke groaned. "That was murder on my back dude." He leaned over the table, occasionally grabbing a Lays chip and shoved it in his mouth. "Can't believe someone threw away a whole bike! Now dinner comes, and I bet it's going to be horrible."

Over with the girls…

"Shouldn't we taste test it first…?" Chie asked, looking at the blob of curry.

"I don't think it will kill them. If it's that bad, then Yu will say so, and we can then know it was that bad." Yukiko replied. "Trust me, I made something horrible once, and he was kind about it. Somewhat. But he didn't say it was the best thing ever, so we'll know if it's inedible."

The girls started walking to their table. Yosuke saw this, and snatched the bag out of the girl's views. Though the boys both feared for their life, Yosuke took a risk, muttering, "If anyone is going to die, it has to be me! You have to solve the mystery Alpha!"

Yu looked at him with saddened eyes as he shoved the food into his mouth. Yosuke gagged, and keeled over. The girls screamed in horror, while Yu tilted his head down, muttering a silent, "I'm sorry that this had to happen. At least it was swift. Goodbye, Beta!"

Yosuke jumped up, chugging down water at an unnatural rate. Yu looked up with a bright expression, feeling the urge to bowl him over, and hug him. He resisted it, but he was still so happy that he felt tears form at his eyes.

"What the hell was that?!" He yelled. "That almost killed me! It's squishy, and it's hard, and everything else!"

"That's just your opinion." Chie countered. "Yu has the least amount of taste buds here, and he can swallow anything. If he can't eat it, then we admit defeat."

Yosuke looked at him, shaking his head. "Dude, don't do it. I risked my life so you could live. I don't care if I'm the Beta, I not ready to be the Alpha!" Chie and Yukiko glanced at each other, confused at where he pulled that out of.

'I'm sorry, Yosuke," Yu thought, 'Looks like you're going to have to go on living without me.' He shoved the blob on his spoon in his mouth, and instantly spewed it out in disgust. He coughed, and fell over on his seat. His consciousness started to fade as Yosuke desperately tried to keep him awake. It was too late, however. He was gone…

Yu woke with a head and stomach ache. He sat up and found Kanji and Yosuke snacking lightly on the can of olives Yu picked out in silence. Yosuke was overjoyed to see him sit up. "Dude, I thought you were a goner there for a second. I couldn't find a pulse, but then you kick started yourself, and you lived, but still. You frightened me there."

Yu reached for the olives, which the boys willingly let him have all of. "I'm starting to wonder why I'm the Alpha; you're the one who can survive a bite of Death in curry form." He commented.

"Yeah, well, you found out the girl's concoction wasn't going to be any good, and grabbed some alternatives." Yosuke said, patting him lightly on the back. "Wonder how the girls are doing now. I hear they're stuck with Hanako."

"The crazy chick that broke your bike and isn't aware of her weight?" Yu asked. Yosuke nodded. "Ouch. Sucks for them. I better it's karma getting back at them for killing me for a minute with evil food."

"That may be so, but don't you think it's a little harsh?" Kanji asked, and the others shook their heads. "I'm worried now; I'm going to check on them. I snuck in here, and I can get to the girl's just as easily!" He ran out while the other two watched in confusion.

* * *

><p>Over in the girl's tent…<p>

"This is horrible." Chie commented. "Think that we can go find Naoto, and stay with the first years?"

"Maybe, god, I'm so hungry, I wish we had eaten the curry. Maybe Yu was faking." Yukiko said.

"Not likely. He's a pretty serious guy sometimes. Yosuke did have to drag him to the tent after all." Chie said with a sigh.

Hanako snored loudly. "Think she'll stop if I cover her nose and mouth?" Yukiko asked, desperate for some quiet.

"Hell no, that would kill her!" Chie hissed. Then it hit her. "On second thought, do it. Do it now while no one is aware, and Hanako has no chance of waking." They heard some noise from outside the tent. "What was that?"

Kanji walked in, and in the girls fright, they smacked him on the head, knocking him out cold. "OK, we aren't staying in this tent any longer!" Chie declared, and Yukiko quickly agreed.

They snuck out, carefully avoiding King Moron's drunk stumbling. They got to the tent they figured Naoto was in, and peeked in. All of the occupants were asleep as far as they could tell. Chie pointed to Naoto's hat, lying next to a sleeping girl. They navigated their way to her, not that it was hard. There was a grand total of three people in there.

Chie crouched down, and lightly poked the body. "Hey, get up, just for a minute."

She groaned, and opened her eyes, though the two other girls could tell she wasn't even half awake. "Isn't it the middle of the night?"

"Yeah, it is." Chie answered. "Sorry, but Hanako was snoring, and Kanji burst in, we got frightened, and knocked him out. I hope you don't mind, but we're staying with you guys until morning."

Naoto stared at them for a second until her mind registered what they said. "Knock yourselves out. Just try not to wake me again." She rolled over and fell back into unconsciousness. The second years made themselves at home in a corner, curled up, set and alarm on Chie's phone for early into the morning, and fell asleep in two seconds flat.

* * *

><p>(19th) (Saturday)<p>

Everyone met up at the river. They (At least the boys) had plans of swimming, and were luckily alone, not having to worry about their ears. Kanji looked horrible though. "What's wrong? You don't look that good." Yosuke commented on the tired look that Kanji had on.

"I walked into the girl's tent to check on them, you know, stuck with Hanako and all, and they knocked me out! Or was that a dream?"

"That was totally a dream!" Chie screeched.

Yu tried to hold back laughter, though a snort did slip past his defenses. He knew the girls knocked him out. Otherwise, he probably would have come back. "So what did you do about Hanako?" He asked.

"We gave up trying to sleep and moved in with the first years." Yukiko explained.

"Yeah, and you woke me up." Naoto said with an annoyed look and a glare.

"Anyways… let's get to swimming!" Yosuke said with glee in his voice, not really caring about what happened to the girls.

"I'll pass, thank you." Chie said, the other two girls agreeing, as well as Kanji.

"What?! You owe us though for knocking Yu out cold for 3 hours with your nasty concoction!" Yosuke yelled.

"Well, I don't know about you, but none of the girls brought swimsuits." Naoto spoke up. "Also, it's cold in there. You couldn't pay me enough to jump in a river with hypothermic temperatures."

"Same," Chie agreed, Yukiko jumping along.

"No way, you owe us! Not Naoto, she's free to go, but you guys almost killed us! I want something to make up for it!" Yosuke yelled.

Chie sighed. "Yeah, but remember what Naoto said. None of us have swimsuits. I'm not going in fully clothed either."

Yosuke smirked and whipped out a pair of swimsuits from nowhere. "Well then, here you go. I had a feeling you might pull that one on us, so I bought some from Junes' new summer line."

Everyone stared at the swimwear Yosuke pulled out. Naoto leaned over and whispered, "What the hell? I'm really glad I don't owe you anything."

"Yeah, I never even knew he had those with him. I hid food I brought from home away from the girls as punishment for almost killing me, as I knew they were going to fail, and I tried to warn them, but they brushed me off. I don't think it necessary to force them into swimsuits though, after Hanako." Yu replied, watching as Yosuke guilt-tripped the two into the bikinis.

After 5 minutes, the two hadn't returned. "What's taking so long?" Yosuke whined.

"I don't blame them. I would move far away if I had to change into a swimsuit in the middle of the woods with three guys not far away. Them taking 5 minutes isn't a surprise." Naoto said from where she sat on the ground. She sat not long after the girls left, knowing it would take awhile. After two minutes, Yu and Kanji joined her, and only Yosuke was left standing.

"Alright, we're ready." Chie's voice appeared and announced their return. The two stepped out of the bushes they had been behind. They had on the swimsuits that Yosuke gave them, though everyone started to wonder how he knew their sizes.

"Alright, this totally makes up for the Mystery Food X accident last night!" Yosuke yelled in happiness. "They might be childish now, but they'll become some fine looking women before long, right Yu-Alpha?"

"I'm debating on whether I should comment or not. The way you worded that sound more like an insult than a complement." Yu said.

"You got that right!" Chie yelled, kicking Yosuke in the gut, causing him to fly into the river.

Yosuke popped up a second later, shivering. "He deserved that." Kanji commented. "Hey, is that cold enough down there to give you hypothermia?" He yelled to Yosuke.

"If I don't get out I will! If anything, I'll catch a cold!" He yelled back.

Kanji turned back to the rest of them. "Don't you think that was a little harsh?" Before he knew it, Yukiko had smacked him in as well. Everyone on the ledge could be the reason, judging from the blood on the ground, and it didn't come from Yukiko's smack.

Everyone watched the two shiver in the stream. They then all heard some sound that resembled heaving. Looking over to the right revealed that King Moron had too much to drink the night before, and was now upchucking into the river. The boys scrambled to get out of the polluted river, but they were a little too late, as little bits of vomit floated past them, some touching the poor guys' legs as they half-ran, half-swam to the shore as soon as their feet touched the ground. Gross.

Yu quickly placed his hat back on and slipped his clothes on over his trunks. He was never going in there. Naoto followed; while the girls watched the boys get their punishment.

When Yu got home, Nanako asked how the trip had been. Yu didn't have an answer to properly describe the chaos that had ensued those two days.

* * *

><p><strong>I'm curious, does anyone read this things? Really? Should I even put these things here? If I didn't this world would be a whole lot more happy, I'm sure. Also, really quick-like, Quil12 got a laptop, so for no reason will I be typing her stories unless an amazing freak accident breaks it. Course, I would hate that, because typing up her stories cuts into my own time, which I spend typing anyway, but I digress. It's my stories I want to be working on. NOT HERS.<strong>


	19. Finally Getting Somewhere With Yukiko

**It was about here that I really started to focus on getting Yukiko's Social Link done. Course, I ran into a bit of a problem yesterday while writing rank 9/10 (Shoving them together.) I couldn't find anything that gave me dialogue for the non-lovers path. I eventually gave up and made a scene all my own. Yay! Also, I was joking around a little with the stranger weapons you can get in the game.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 19<p>

(19th) (Sunday)

Yu was wandering around when he randomly ran into a woman that gave him a sharp shovel for having a garden. Though it confused him, Yu didn't complain, as he occasionally saw a dog fruitlessly digging at the hard earth by the river on the nights he goes to the hospital.

Then some more strange things happened when Daidara requested to get an Inaba Trout. He had one that he bought from Tanaka, so he gave it to him, and he turned it into a powerful weapon for Yosuke. Yu walked away holding some smelly, stiff fish, and unable to remember the original reason for entering.

After dropping the new strange weapons off with Yosuke, and getting a weird look from his Beta, Yu decided to hang with Kanji. For whatever reason, his mother went to the hospital. They rushed over; only to find out she took a little boy over. Kanji was naturally angry when he found out that she wasn't hurt, but somehow word had spread that she had been.

After he ran off, his mother explained a little on how he would always sew or play house, where the other boys would be, well, boys. Girls wouldn't accept him either, and that caused some problems. Seems that it's fixing itself a little bit at a time, though, with Yu's help. He also had a grudge with hospitals because his dad died while he was off somewhere else.

That night, the Dojima's (and the Narukami) were watching the news. It was something about an idol (Rise Kujikawa) who was taking a break from showbiz. They asked that the final questions be brief.

A lady introduced herself from some show or magazine about Lady's View. "It says here you will be recuperating, are you facing health problems?"

The idol looked confused. "What? No… It's not that…" She answered, about to explain, but was cut off by another question.

"Is it psychological problems you're facing then?" The reporter asked.

This only served to confuse the poor girl even more. "Excuse me?!" She asked, getting annoyed. "The only health that I'm having problems with is my mental health; your questions are really getting to me!" The manager decided that they should stop the conference. The whole thing practically went up in flames.

What a hectic night that was…

* * *

><p>(20th) (Monday)<p>

"So, anyone heard Rise-chan's taking a break from showbiz?" Chie asked when class ended and Kanji joined them.

"Shows you that being a popular idol is tough work." Yosuke noted.

"I've never heard of Rise Kujikawa." Yu said, getting shocked looks from everyone in the room that heard the comment.

"Dude, you haven't heard of her?!" Yosuke asked in surprise. "She's been all over the place lately! You should have at least seen one commercial!"

"Isn't she coming to Inaba?" Kanji asked, Yosuke confirming it quickly, noting that she was going to be at the tofu shop.

"Yeah, that could mean she'll get kidnapped after she's in the killer's grasp!" Chie said, trying to not yell in a rage. "We just need to keep an eye on her!"

Everyone almost completely ignored her, and just left the room. Yu ran to the roof, finding the girl that had need speaking lessons a week or so ago. "How'd it go?" He asked as he approached her.

She turned around, seeing him and smiling happily. "I'm going out with him!" She yelled gleefully.

Yu grinned at her amazing amount of happiness that was oozing off her. "Don't forget to pay the shrine." He told her. "I saw that you wrote an ema not long after helping you." She stared at him for a second, then it clicked and she ran off, while Yu watched her, shaking his head at her obliviousness.

He then found Yukiko and walked with her to the shrine. They ran into a waitress, who embarrassed the crap out of the poor girl, and Yu didn't help, teasing her a little. He also listened to her rant about how the chefs take the knife away from her while she cooks because it looked that bad. Though judging from her face, he was questioning whether she would be happy leaving the Inn.

* * *

><p>(21st) (Tuesday)<p>

Yu left the house early that day to get the next ema from the fox. He was really close to finishing the Hermit Arcana now, he could tell. It was something about not fearing cats. Yu was starting to wonder why these people need to write down emas for something they can talk to their friends about.

After school, Yu found the dude that needed to make friends with a cat. He dragged him to the cat not far from his house, shoved a goldfish in his hands, pointing to the cat, saying, "It won't hurt you unless you provoke it, now make friends!"

The man gingerly walked over and held the fish out to the cat. It meowed at him, getting up and grabbing the offered fish, rubbing against his leg a little and munching on the morsel. The man got over his fear quite quickly after that. He gave Yu some money to pay the shrine, and sat down next to the cat, lightly petting its head. Yu sighed and walked to the shrine and go the next ema, dropping off the money. He decided to hold off on it unless he found the woman's missing wallet on accident.

Yu then ran off to find Yukiko. She dragged him to the shrine. Turns out the waitress from yesterday was gushing about him. Everyone was apparently saying that Yukiko needed to bring him home. What was he, a stuffed animal won at a fair!?

"Adults are too quick to poke fun at me. It's a hassle." Yukiko complained. "Course, I live at an inn, so you could come over, as a guest. No one would even know."

"Yuki-chan," an old man came over, greeting Yukiko.

"Ah, deputy mayor," Yukiko returned the light greeting.

"It seems that the inn is very busy. Is something going on?" The deputy mayor questioned.

"What?" Yukiko thought for a second, and then suddenly remembered something important, judging from her expression. "The interview for the travel show's today!"

The deputy smiled. "The Inn, on TV? That's great, you're going to make Inaba look inviting, right?" He turned around and left, smiling lightly.

Yukiko turned and looked at Yu. "I'm sorry, but I have to go." She apologized.

"An interview?" Yu questioned her.

Yukiko nodded. "It's for a travel show. It looks serious, and we agreed because none of our faces would be shown. I need to help clean, so I have to go." Yu nodded understandingly. "Goodb-" Yukiko didn't get to finish her farewell statement when the waitress came running.

"There you are, Yuki-chan!" She called out. Yukiko looked at the waitress's panicked face, requesting to know what was wrong. "The camera crew came, but don't go to the Inn!" She panted. "It was really a trick about the 'Dead Historic Places' show!" Yu got up, unhappy, as Yukiko took a step back in shock. "I think they're looking for you! Stay put, got it?" She demanded.

Just then, a man's voice appeared, smooth, as if he dealt with people like this all the time, which he probably did. "There you are, Yuki-chan!" The man and his small group of lackeys walked up to them. "There's no use in hiding, not-so-future-manager-of-the-soon-to-be-torn-down-Amagi-Inn!" He sounded smug, too smug for Yu's liking.

"Soon to be torn down!?" Yukiko questioned.

"Yep, after this airs, you aren't going to up much longer, and the ratings should soar for us!" The man had a grin on his face that made Yu want to smack him. He refrained from it, but it didn't help too much. The waitress seemed to be having the same internal problem.

Yukiko took a deep breath. Yu was afraid that she was going to do the thing he really want to do. Instead, she mustered a small smile, and said, "I'm sorry, but we aren't interested in your coverage. I'm going have to ask you to leave." Yu was impressed by the woman's self-control.

The shady man growled. "Listen kid, you shouldn't refuse… One way or another, you will be on this station, whether you like it or not! The future manager should be thinking about this. Everything will only go downhill at an amazing pace if you refuse."

Yukiko sighed heavily. "Only problem with that, I'm not going to be the next manager."

The shady reporter raised an eyebrow. He then tried to hook her on a deal. The waitress was getting really annoyed. Yukiko told her to calm down. "Once he's burned out, he'll leave." She reassured the older woman.

The reporter was shocked. "What the shit…?" He asked no one in particular. "You know, the Inn is crappy and run-down from being across multiple generations. Give it up, will you? Tradition is so last year. Just let us run the show." He smiled. "I've seen your service. Small portions, decent service, but nothing that's interesting. Doing the same thing isn't going to help you. You can't understand that, and that's why you suck."

Yu was about to snap, and so was the waitress. Yukiko beat them to it. "The hell up…" She said, catching everyone's attention. Her head was down, covering her eyes. Then her head snapped up, and everyone could see the fire in her eyes as she yelled, "Don't say another rude thing about our Inn, you got that?!" She screamed in a sudden rage. "Who takes your ideas seriously anyway?! From now on, we refuse ANY service from your station! If you try anything, we will file a complaint to your sponsors and get you shut down!"

The reporter scowled, and held up a camera. "You're going on Prime Time, and you're going to regret saying that!"

"Sorry, but I won't." Yukiko said, tilting her head back, and letting out a couple short barks. Yu could understand the meaning of it, though the others couldn't. "Fox, help me destroy the man's camera, please, I need your help!"

The fox appeared on top of the roof, where Yu was now convinced that it slept there. It let out a short howl and jumped. It landed behind the reporter and his lackeys, trapping them. The fox lunged, grabbing the camera and expertly removed the SD card, snapping it in half. It left the rest alone, and brought it to Yukiko, who made sure all the data was erased. Satisfied, she pulled out her wallet, and handed the fox a good sum of money, promising to pay it anymore that it expected later. It told her, "Another 500 yen should do it." Then it scampered off.

Yukiko placed the camera in the man's hands and firmly told him to leave; he would find no business in the town. He quickly ran away in a fright.

Yukiko sighed and sat down at the steps of the shrine. "Do you have 500 yen, Yu-kun?" She asked. He pulled it out and handed it to her, and she dropped it into the offering box with the rest of her money. "I'll pay you back later." She promised. "Man, I said some pretty amazing things back there, huh?" The two girls started to giggle. The waitress then ran to contact the Inn of the news.

Once she was gone, Yukiko asked, "Was I scary? I kind of lost it when he was insulting everyone and everything I hold dear, so…" She trailed off, but Yu got what she was saying.

"That was awesome!" Yu exclaimed. "You were probably frightening to the reporter though. I didn't know that you were that good with speaking with animals already!"

"Thank goodness." Yukiko sighed in relief. "For awhile, I thought the Inn would be better off closed, but it's my home, and that would be horrible. It's my world, and letting it close isn't right."

Yu was sure that he was really close now to finishing the Social Link. For now, he bid Yukiko a good day, and went home. At said home, he had to pretend to be asleep until Rie wandered away, because for some reason, she had a feeling he was up to something. Which he was, so she had ever right to be suspicious of him.

When she was gone, and Yu had a good feeling she wouldn't come back, he got up and unplugged the TV, just for the sake of the act. He waited, and finally the TV screen lit up, showing a figure that Yu could only guess was Rise Kujikawa, though it was a bit hard to tell, as it kept zooming in on her chest and thighs. It was clearly a she, and she was wearing a swimsuit.

The Channel switched off, and Yosuke called. "Hey, that was Rise-chan, right?" He asked, completely forgetting Yu hadn't seen all of her body before, so it could be someone with a similar figure. Actually, that doesn't seem too likely. "Let's warn her tomorrow. Beware the doorbell!" Yu rolled his eyes, not that Yosuke could see, and hung up.

* * *

><p><strong>I say, I'm quickly running out of things to type in this section, because I don't have much in real life going on. I'm just an average girl. Too bad for someone who would love to hear of tales of adventure or something from me. Though I have to question, who would love to listen to me ramble on about nothingness. See, I'm doing just that!<strong>


	20. Rise's Been Kidnapped, What A Shocker

**Yay,** **it's Rise's turn! Finally, that took way to long, and then it takes quite a bit of time inside the TV to get to the damn girl. Mostly because of the blinding lights, as one might expect.**

**To bad this chapter was so short. If it wasn't though, you would probably have a really long chapter if combined this with the next one, then the one with the boss fight. Plus, I'm too goddamn lazy to bother.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 20<p>

(22nd) (Wednesday)

After school let out, the gang gathered in homeroom, and started to talk about their plan. "I hear a massive crowd in front of the tofu shop that Rise-chan's grandmother owns." Yukiko reported.

"I'm not that surprised." Chie commented. "I mean, the girl's a famous idol who just came to a small town like this. Who wouldn't freak? Anyway, that was her on the Midnight Channel, right?" Everyone nodded. "Alright, you guys go keep an eye on her. Yukiko and I have plans, but if something interesting turns up, give us a call, alright?"

Yukiko and Chie left the room. "Shall we be going?" Yosuke asked, and the rest of the boys agreed. "Let's just be sure on this; we aren't spectators, got it? We're on an investigation."

When they arrived at the shop, they found a massive crowd, and Adachi was trying to keep cars from parking illegally in front of the shop to take pictures. Turns out as punishment for slacking, he was put on this pathetic job. He then ran away after Kanji scared him a little.

Dojima and Naoto ran from trying to keep the enormous crowd out of the shop to stop Adachi from getting away. "Great, he ran off." Dojima sighed when the pathetic detective was out of sight. "Alright, you're up, Shirogane."

Naoto sighed, but stepped to the edge of the curb regardless. "Thanks, Tatsumi." She muttered sarcastically, pulling out her phone to try and get Adachi to come back. He didn't pick up, so she was stuck with the job.

"When did you become friends with Kanji Tatsumi?" Dojima asked.

"Not long before Rie tried to kill us." He answered dully, noticing Naoto cringe a little at the memory.

"So what are you doing here? Trying to see Rise?" Naoto asked, warding off a couple cars. Yu nodded. "We aren't allowing her to have any visitors for a while, until we're sure she won't be kidnapped and have ears stapled to her head." Everyone with ears shivered at the thought of staples being the things holding them in place.

"Doesn't look like it's necessary." Yu noted; looking at the crowd as they slowly drifted away, complaining that only an old lady was there. The news spread quickly, so much so that Naoto no longer had to stand guard. "While we're here, let's get some tofu, my treat." He offered, pulling out his overflowing wallet, reminded Yukiko she still have to pay Yu back.

Yosuke sighed. "Sorry Alpha, I'm allergic to the stuff, and with the enhanced senses, I'll probably have a heart attack if I'm 5 feet outside of the building."

"Want us to get some ganmodoki for you then? I don't think it will kill you. Might send you into a coma, but at least it will be good." Yu joked.

"I don't know Alpha, if you think it's safe, but if it has any tofu in it, I probably won't survive." Yosuke replied, so Yu shrugged and went inside, telling Dojima he would warn Rise, leaving his Beta outside to chat with Dojima and Naoto.

When they were in, they asked the woman in the back who was crouched over scrubbing dishes or something if she could pass along a message to Rise. The woman un-crouched, and revealed that the so called 'old woman' was Rise herself.

"What do you want? Say it to my face, and leave if you won't buy anything." Rise demanded coldly.

Yu smiled. That saves some hassle. "Get us some ganmodoki please." Rise nodded and walked to retrieve the food. "Listen, have you heard of the kidnappings that have been happening recently?" He asked, getting a confused look from Rise. "I'll take that as a no… Anyway, people have been kidnapped that appear on TV, and are in the Inaba area. Please be cautious. Most of my friends here are victims, and they all remember a doorbell ringing, and then blacking out, so please, if you are going to answer the doorbell, make sure that you have someone accompany you. We don't want anything happening to you."

"What will happen if I do get kidnapped?" Rise asked.

Yu sighed as he uncurled his tail and removed his hat after ensuring no one else was around. Rise squealed in delight at the fluffy animal parts. "These things aren't the best. They come with a lot more hassle then what you had to deal with while on a show, not that I have any idea what it's like. All of us have them, but they aren't a blessing. Please, be careful, alright?"

Rise nodded and handed them the bag of ganmodoki. "I put a little extra in there, for warning me. I'll be careful, don't worry. I have to deal with stalkers all the time after all." She cleared her throat, and went into a business mode. "That will be 600 yen please." Yu fished out the money and paid the idol her money and thanked her for taking the time with them, and keep the ears a secret.

* * *

><p>(After the boys left)<p>

Having given up on getting Adachi to return to the tofu shop, Dojima and Naoto decided to check on Rise. They walked in, and called out when no one greeted them; despite the fact the store was still open. They got worried and started to wander around to find someone. Dojima found a cat, but that was it, and neither of them could speak cat. Naoto then found the back door, and called out to Dojima, who was looking around the house section of the building. He rushed over.

What he found wasn't what he expected. The old lady that ran the store was lying on the ground, unconscious. Naoto was crouched beside her, attempting to wake the old lady and ask what happened.

When she did wake, she wore a look of horror. "Rise-chan requested to come with me to see who was at the door when the doorbell rang." The store owner explained. "She had a frightened look, so I agreed. I opened the door, and saw no one. Rise-chan gasped, and everything went black." She hung her head, starting to cry when the two detectives quickly guessed she had already been kidnapped.

"Don't worry, ma'am. We'll find this person if it's the last thing that we do." Dojima said, trying to calm down the sobbing woman.

* * *

><p>(At the Dojima's)<p>

"I know you have something to do with saving those who have been kidnapped." Dojima said in the middle of dinner.

Yu looked at Dojima. "Yeah, I had a feeling you would get that quickly. Why does it matter?"

Naoto, who was dragged back with Dojima, sighed. "Yeah, she's already been kidnapped."

Yu's mouth dropped open. "What?! We told her not to answer the door with no one else to ensure she wasn't kidnapped!"

"Yes, she did that though. Her grandmother was with her, but was knocked out after she answered." Dojima explained. "Listen, I know that you have been saving the people that disappear. It's pretty obvious, and I won't question how or why. So please, save Rise-san as soon as possible."

Yu nodded in agreement.

Rie then decided to slap them with tofu to lighten the mood. Naoto beat her to the punch, though, considering payback for slapping her with sushi.

That night, Yu watched the Midnight Channel, and was thoroughly disturbed. Rise appeared on the screen, as they expected her too after she was kidnapped.

"Maru-Q! Push Risette!" Rise's Shadow yelled happily. "Good evening, good evening! I'm Rise Kujikawa!" She smiled gleefully, and it came off as a little creepy to Yu. "This spring, one young girl levels up to become a high school idol!" She squealed in what Yu could only assume was false happiness. "So today, I'm going to celebrate by pushing the limits of Standards and Practices! Does anyone know what time it is? Showtime? Show what you ask?" Slowly, she said the thing that shocked the shit out of Yu, and probably anyone else watching. "E-very-thing. This is embarrassing! Is this too hot for TV?! Well, if a job's worth doing, it's worth doing all the way! I'm going to bare it all for you! Stay tuned!"

The TV shut off, and Yu stared at the screen until Yosuke called. "What do you make of this?" He asked. Yu could only make grunts, like what happened when he saw Kanji's Shadow. Yosuke gave up and told him to meet at Junes the next day.

* * *

><p><strong>Yeah, I figured that I would mix it up a little and have Rise kidnapped a day early. Not much of a change in plot or anything, I just wanted to do it like that. Plus it cut out the search for info on Rise. You'll get exactly how when I get to it. <strong>


	21. Beginning of Rise's Dungeon

**Only one chapter today. I was watching Crossknight's Assassin's Creed 1 hour finale, then started to do my homework in the middle of it. After I was done with that, I started to read Quil's new Pokemon Ninja chapter, so it's a bit late now... It was worth it. **

* * *

><p>Chapter 21<p>

(23rd) (Thursday)

After gathering in front of the TV, everyone dived in. Teddie was still having his little crisis though, so they had to find some clues about Rise that would get them to her. So they left Teddie to his thinking, but only after Yu got the Star Arcana.

As they were walking around the shopping district, they ran into Adachi, who had to detail what happened to Rise into a file, so they stopped to chat. After a minute, Yu started to hear grunts of effort and looked over, finding some dude climbing a telephone pole. He pointed it out to the others.

"What are you doing, you moron?!" Yu called out to the man. The strange dude was startled and fell, though he landed with no problem and started to run. "He isn't the kidnapper, but now I want to know what he was doing." Yu said, chasing after him, the others following.

They cornered him by the road that was busy with people traveling along. "I'll jump you know!" He threatened.

"Dude, we just want to know what the hell you were doing climbing a telephone pole." Yosuke explained.

"I was trying to get a picture of Risette! I know for a fact that it isn't a crime to take secret pictures!" The man yelled.

"Dude, it may not be, but it sure is fucking creepy." Yu said with a disturbed look on his face. The dude ran off in a fright after he saw that they had no intention of chasing him anymore. What a weirdo.

"Well, that was a complete waste of time." Kanji commented.

"Not quite," Yu said, running after the man again, everyone but Adachi following close behind. When they got to him finally, they made him spill everything that he knew about Rise. He didn't have a lot, but there was more than enough to get Teddie to find her.

Sure enough, Teddie told them to come back the next day. He should have found her by then. Otherwise, well, they would be better off looking around without him.

* * *

><p>(24th) (Friday)<p>

After school, the gang walked over to the TV, checking to make sure they all had the new weapons they bought at Daidara's and everything. They entered as soon as the coast was clear, and inside, they asked Teddie if Rise could be found.

"Yeah, I can find her, but it will take a while. No more than a 30 minutes to an hour." He answered, starting to sniff around. The group had no choice but to follow him.

Teddie constantly wandered one way, then would turn around and wander the other way. After a bit, the group was starting to wonder if Yu should just lead the way, they would actually find the dungeon that way. However, they didn't say anything to avoid making Teddie feel useless, as he seemed to be having self-esteem issues already, no need to add to it.

Finally, Teddie spotted something in the distance as Rise's scent got stronger. "Over there, Rise-chan's over there!" He yelled, running over to the building.

The gang followed quickly, but inside was a black hole. Yu took a couple steps inside. "Are you completely sure that she's in here?" He asked, looking around at the nothingness as the others joined him, confusion written on their faces as Teddie yelled his reply.

"I'm sure that Rise-chan is in here, Sensei-knight! This place reeks of her scent!" Teddie said, not going to waver.

"OK then," Chie said. "You're sure, but how are we going to navigate around a pitch black area like this?" She took a couple steps forward, and suddenly blinding flashing lights turned on, startling everyone.

"Well, apparently like that." Yu replied, looking around the place as his eyes adjusted themselves to the sudden light. "So, Rise-chan's dungeon took the form of a…" He couldn't complete the thought as he got a good grasp on where they were.

It was bright, strange, and Yu hoped that he could wipe his memory of the place as soon as they saved Rise and got out, never to come back to the slightly terrifying place that is hidden inside to a young idol.

"Yeah, this is strange." Kanji commented, though Yu wasn't sure he understood where they were.

"Yeah, I think this is one of those places." Yukiko said. "It's a good thing that our Inn doesn't have this sort of thing!"

"Yeah, I don't think that the Inn wouldn't be that popular with many sane people if it did." Kanji said, letting the gang know that Kanji probably did have an idea of what was going on here. "Can't believe the dungeon's that of a Strip Joint." OK, Kanji did know what was happening.

"Strip?" Teddie questioned, and it dawned on everyone that Teddie probably didn't have any idea was the hell such a place was about. "Isn't that the thing zebras have?" He joked, though no one laughed, snickered, or otherwise, which frustrated the bear to a small extent.

"My eyes hurt." Yukiko informed the group as they realized that theirs did as well, so they closed their eyelids and found that the light traveled right through.

So they gave up and ran inside the dungeon portion of the building. Not even the third floor (things were getting way too easy) they found Shadow Rise, who was really annoying and creepy, her eyes kind of bugging out. They were way too wide, and that was a little scary.

Anyway, getting away from Shadow Rise's creepiness, she asked as if she was on the Midnight Channel, but it wasn't the middle of the night, so Yu knew she wasn't on the air. A huge relief in case she decided to drop her top.

She ran off before that could happen however, and they continued on. After the 5th floor, however, Teddie started to complain that he was getting drunk off of the bright, flashing lights. Yu turned around after smashing a Shadow over the head with the shovel he got from the gardening lady.

"Alright, by a show of hands, how many want to go home, because the lights are nauseating?" No one raised their hands. Yu sighed; he knew they were too concerned for Rise. "Think for one minute that Rise-chan will be fine. We just need to finish by the fog deadline. Now then, pretend we're training. How many want to go home?"

Everyone dropped their weapons, or the parts they could, (Those claws really get in the way of that) and raised both hands. Yu rolled his eyes as he got out a Goho-m.

As soon as they were back at the entrance, everyone grabbed their weapons and ran out the building, blinking at the sudden lack of lights. Yu followed with Teddie, laughing at the overdramatic reactions.

That night, every time Yu blinked, there was a flash of bright light. He had a hard time hiding it from Dojima, who was sure to get mad if he found out he was traveling to something that was a dungeon strip joint.

* * *

><p>(25th) (Saturday)<p>

It was raining. Yu knew that he wouldn't have to worry for another couple days though, so he decided that today he would go fight, they would stop before the door to Rise, leave, and on Sunday, Yu would find that old woman from the hospital.

After entering the dreaded Strip Joint, the group immediately closed their eyes again. Those lights hurt!

They continued on, saving their strength as much as possible by not using the Demon Powers. They needed the extra power just to withstand the power of the glaring lights. Course, this made things a little harder, until Shadow Rise turned off the lights, which was actually quite pleasant, and a breath of fresh air to not have to stare at blinding lights in the middle of battle.

They activated their Demon Powers and rushed forward, murdering everything in sight, when they could see it of course. The whole time they were attempting to pretend to not hear the *cough* awkward things the Shadow was spurting.

Sadly, Shadow Rise turned on the lights when it was time for a pre-boss fight. It blinded them and gave the Shadow an advantage. It was a snake Shadow, so it dived and weaved around the room, finally attacking, coiling itself around Yukiko.

Everyone got over the fact they couldn't see rather quickly upon hearing her scream. Kanji was the first to rush forward, smashing the damn thing over the head with his plate. It was a critical hit! The Shadow screeched and dropped its prisoner, who Kanji easily caught from becoming a pancake on the ground.

Yukiko as clearly annoyed at the Shadow, and after Kanji set her down, she ran forward and slashed the hell out it with her fan. After it regained its senses, it knocked her back, but she would have none of that shit and fired off an Agi spell that burned the thing into a comical crisp. Kanji bashed it over the head again, and it disintegrated upon contact.

They grabbed a key from the back of the room and ran around the rest of the floor beating the shit out of whatever was unfortunate enough to be spotted. Finally, they left the floor and relaxed a little on these Shadows, but whatever was spotted, did get its butt kicked. In no time at all, they were in front of the door leading to Rise.

Yu looked at the others, who looked really pumped to murder the shit out of Rise's Shadow. "Think we should risk it, or should we save first?"

Everyone arched an eyebrow. "What do you mean save?" Chie asked.

"Doesn't matter." Yu replied a little too quickly. "Should we, or not?"

"I need a break." Yukiko said. "The fatigue is starting to catch up." The rest of the group started to agreed with her. Yu nodded and threw a Goho-m in the air.

Yu fell asleep that night as soon as he walked inside his room, meaning he never made it to the futon and just collapsed after he shut the door.

* * *

><p><strong>Yu really needs to get his shit together. He keeps collapsing after getting to his room. Ah, I kind of expect that to happen though. He's only human (OK, plus some Demon-animal-thing mixed in) but he's still only has some much energy, and I'm amazed that throughout the game, he doesn't just pass out while babysitting Yuuta.<strong>

**On another note, as of today, there is only one week baring me from playing Persona Q, so that's a thing that will be distracting.**

**Also, I have an overdue science project. (It was never a strong point) And it is basically guaranteed that unless Mr. P lets me out of it, then it will be cutting into my update time, and the time I have to make the chapters. (I'm only about two-three chapters away from catching up. **


	22. Shadow Rise & Shadow Teddie

**This chapter and Chapter 23. They got a little weird. I mean, the humor changed or something. It isn't much, but to me, it's noticeable when I see the other chapters that I have already unloaded, and then there is just the fact that I called a middle aged man 'snappingly dressed.'**

**Like I said, this chpater and the next get really weird in the terms of humor, and I swear I was that one who wrote them, not Quil, not my sister, not my mother. ME, and I have no idea what happened. Just the first two paragraphs on Chapter 23 shows it off quite well. Here, I'll give them too you for the hell of it.**

* * *

><p><strong>After school, Yu figured that he should look for the woman's wallet. You know, the one from the ema he got a couple weeks ago. You don't remember? Yeah, neither do I.<strong>

** Anyway, he asked her what it looked like, because for some reason she hadn't found it, and hadn't canceled the credit cards in it yet. Yep, she's one smart cookie alright.**

* * *

><p><strong>It continues from there to Adachi's next Link Rank Up, that has some random technical difficulties, but you don't have to see it just yet.<strong>

* * *

><p>Chapter 22<p>

(26th) (Sunday)

When Yu woke that morning, he was still on the floor. He got up slowly and listened to the muscles/bones (Whatever they are) popping every time he moved. He took out his phone. 'Might go to the TV today. However, I'm stiff and want to speak to this old lady I met at the hospital while working. Have fun with your free time.' He group-texted his friends.

After changing his old clothes, Yu walked to the river, looking over and finding the lady where she said that she would possibly be. He approached her.

She noticed him and tilted her head. "Oh, aren't you that hospital janitor I met a while ago?" She asked him. Yu nodded. She laughed. "I didn't actually expect to meet you here. Have you come to talk to me, or are you just passing through?"

"I came here because you said that you would be here, so I wanted to speak to you." Yu answered, getting a smile from the old lady.

"My, that makes me happy." She said. "Good morning, um…" She didn't know his name.

"Oh, my name is Yu Narukami. Nice to finally have a chat with you." Yu introduced himself.

"Likewise, Yu-chan. I think that name suits you. I've lived here all of my life, but I haven't met you until now." She said, clearly questioning the reason why.

"I'm living with Detective Dojima until spring because of my parent's jobs." Yu told her.

"Oh, well this town is small, but it's nice, isn't it? Though I probably shouldn't be asking a city boy that."

Yu shook his head. "It's inconvenient, but it's really nice, and I want to come back even after I go back to live with my parents."

The old lady laughed. "That's good to hear." A thought occurred to the old woman. "Oh dear, I haven't introduced myself yet, have I? My name is Hisano Kuroda. I… am Death."

That last part put a shocked look on Yu's face. "Death?" He questioned, not sure how to react to Hisano's statement.

She shook her head. "Forgive me. I'm saying foolish things." Yu wasn't sure what it was about, but he had a good idea that would be important later. "Yu-chan, you aren't used to this town yet, right? If you ever have any problems, I'm sure I can help you. Though I'm sure you would rather spend your time with younger ladies than me."

Though she called herself 'Death,' Yu didn't get that sort of vibe off of her, and he wasn't sure if it was correct when he got the Death Arcana from Hisano. Now he wanted to know. He bid her goodbye nevertheless, as he had somehow spent enough time that going to the TV world would be kind of pointless.

* * *

><p>(27th) (Monday)<p>

After school, the group rushed to the TV, jumping in faster than someone could snap. They teleported to the top, and unlocked the door to the boss room. They walked in calmly, ready to listen to the speech and denial that will ensue. Course, with some strip-related things thrown in there for the hell of it.

Shadow Rise laughed. "Finally, all their eyes are on me!" She said happily while the real Rise was telling her to stop it in the background. "What's the matter?" The Shadow taunted. "You want to show your stuff, don't you? How's this?!" She began to rather awkwardly dance around the pole. (Probably as a byproduct of most likely not actually ever going to a strip joint. At least, Yu hoped she hadn't gone to one yet.)

"Please… Stop it." Rise pleaded with her Shadow, who really didn't give a shit.

Shadow Rise chuckled. "Oh, she wants me to stop. That's so funny." No one was really sure what the Shadow found so funny about it though. "As if that's even close to what you're really thinking, you little skank! You're me, and obviously I'm you!"

"No, that's not true…" Rise muttered weakly.

Shadow Rise continued to laugh. "Come on now, you can't tear your eyes away! This is who I really am. Not Risette, the fake celebrity! I'm sick of being an airhead cliché who chokes down everything she's fed and does so with a smile! Who the hell is 'Risette?' I'm no one but myself!"

The real Rise tried to block out what the Shadow was saying, covering her ears with her hands in a desperate attempt to no longer hear the Shadow's words. Shadow Rise wasn't happy. "I guess it's time to prove it! I'm going to show it all off! Let my naked truth be burned into your brains!" The Shadow stopped dancing, and reached to remove her top.

"No…" Rise muttered. "No, you aren't me!"

The Shadow stopped with an annoyed look on her face. "Fine." She said blandly. "Now I'm my own self. Happy?" She grabbed the pole as the power came and she transformed into a multi-color version of her normal self with a satellite for a face. Somehow she was hanging off of the now larger pole by one leg.

Chie groaned. "Why is everything in the dungeon bright and overly colorful!?" She yelled, and everyone around her shrugged as they prepared to fight.

"And now, it's the moment you've all been waiting for! It's time for me to show you every last inch of myself!" Shadow Rise laughed. "And for the special guests in the front row, I'll give you extra-special, extra-intense service!"

"Um, I think I'll pass." Yu muttered, not exactly liking this Shadow a whole lot, not that he was fond of any of them, except his, because his was actually nice.

Immediately, Yu equipped Orthrus and increased everyone's defense with Marakukaja and then swapped the Persona for Samael and decreased the Shadow's attack. Chie then attempted to skewer the Shadow with the end of Suzuka's lightsaber, however the Shadow dodged with unnatural ease.

Kanji's Persona, Take, rammed into her from behind, grabbing onto her while she tried to wiggle away. Not wanting to hurt Kanji, Yu changed out of the Demon Form and equipped Mothman. He shocked the Shadow, catching Take in it, and in turn Kanji. Though it didn't do much to the tough guy, he decided that he wouldn't do that again. Considering the attack hardly hurt her, it really wasn't worth it.

"Garu!" Yosuke yelled, and Susano-o attacked, scratching the Shadow, but not a whole lot more. "Shit, what the hell is this girl made of?" He asked.

"You're getting annoying." Shadow Rise said, swinging around on her pole. She picked up her pole and swung it around, the size of the thing making it so one couldn't just jump over it. Nor could they duck, and as such, they were swept along until the pole smashed into the wall and Shadow Rise put the long object back into its place in the floor. She started to hung off of it again as she watched the gang try and shake off being smashed it the wall.

Yu fell from the hole he had made in the wall, landing with a 'thunk' on the ground. "Hey, Yukiko, mind giving us a heal?" He asked her, getting up and facing the Shadow again.

"Yeah, give me a minute." Yukiko breathed, trying to not faint. She summoned the card and slashed it with her slightly crumpled fan. The healing effects took over, and it wasn't much, but it would have to do.

"Wow, you're obnoxious." Shadow Rise said, looking at Yu as he help his friend get back up. "Whatever, you're dead anyway." She picked up her pole again.

"Brace yourselves!" Yu called out, walking away from the wall, holding his hands out in front of him, ready to catch the pole when it came. The others joined him.

"You can't stop me like that!" Shadow Rise called out. A strange green light enveloped them, and then Shadow Rise swung. They caught it, skidding along the ground as they tried to stop its momentum. They were able to stop a couple inches from the wall. Shadow Rise put the pole back. "How annoying." She said.

Meanwhile, Yu didn't have any energy left. He fell to his knees. The others followed suit.

Teddie watched from the back of the room with Rise next to him. "Oh no, they're in beary big trouble if she decides to attack again!" He said. The Shadow started to wind up for another attack. Teddie growled. "Hell no, you aren't going to hurt them anymore!"

He ran forward, ramming into the Shadow's leg. She looked down at him, seemingly not interested. He snarled and started to hit her. She didn't care that he did so, and stomped on him, before jumping back, holding her foot. Turns out Teddie had some sharp claws. He then somehow got a shit ton of energy from somewhere and launched himself at the Shadow, destroying it and making him as thin as paper.

Yu got up as he heard an explosion. He watched a paper-thin Teddie float down next to him. "Did I help?" He asked.

Yu stared dumbly at him. "Dude, you just saved us from a horrible fate of being squished like bugs. I think 'help' isn't the correct word to describe it."

"Yay!" He said happily. "Hang on; my silky fur has been destroyed! NOOO!" Teddie started to whine about the loss of his fur.

Everyone got up, though not sure what to do about the crying deflated bear. Rise came up. "OK, what the hell just happened?" She asked.

"Oops, forgot about you." Yu said, grabbing her hand and dragging her to her Shadow. "Now then, if you would be so kind, accept the damn Shadow so we can get out of here!"

Rise sighed, but nodded and walked forward regardless. "I'm sorry I refused to believe that you didn't exist. But I didn't know who the 'real' me was. I'm an idol, so I have a lot of fabricated personalities. I think that I've figured it out though. All of them are me; there isn't a technical 'real' one because they are all one and the same."

In the background, Teddie muttered, "No real me…?"

Shadow Rise nodded. She then transformed into Himiko, who didn't seem have any fighting capabilities at all. She was just too weak looking.

Rise collapsed. Yu started to dig around his pockets for the Goho-m that was shoved in there last time he checked. Everyone introduced themselves while he was doing so, and after a while he gave up, as he didn't have any left. "I think I ran out of Goho-ms." He told them.

The group collectively sighed. They turned around to take the long way back to the exit. They walked past Teddie, who was staring into space. Yu stopped. "Hey Teddie, time to go." He poked the bear. "Teddie?"

"There isn't a real me?" He asked no one in particular. He started to repeat it under his breath.

Suddenly, Rise called out, "Get away from him, something's coming out!"

Everyone watched as Teddie turned around because he felt something breathing doing his… neck. (He doesn't actually have one.) He sat there staring at the stomach area of a larger version of him.

The larger one was, well, larger, and had really creepy Shadow eyes. "Real me?" It questioned, and then it chuckled. "Such foolishness."

'Holy shit, that thing's voice is nightmare fuel in itself!' Yu thought as he listened to it.

"Whoa, is that Teddie's Shadow?" Chie asked, though it's not like anyone else had any other ideas.

"It appears so, though I felt another powerful presence a second ago. It's gone now." Rise told them.

Shadow Teddie started to talk, his voice completely monotone. "Truth is unattainable. It will always be shrouded by the fog. Though you reach through the murk to try and grasp the truth, you have no idea if it was what you were seeking. So why, why bother trying? Close your eyes and lie to yourself. Live in ignorance. It is the smarter way to exist."

Teddie looked confused. "I don't know what you're saying. You are only saying those things because I'm not smart enough to understand!"

Now it was the Shadow's turn to look confused. "Wha… must I spell it out? You are hollow, empty. It your core, you are aware of this, though you cannot accept it. So you took an alternate form. It is a denial of your very nature."

"No, you're lying!" Teddie yelled at his Shadow.

"I'm not, you know it. You are but a mere-" Shadow Teddie didn't get to finish his sentence.

"I told you to shut it!" Teddie screamed at his Shadow. The Shadow's expression didn't change. He didn't move. No reaction.

Suddenly, a burst of energy sent Teddie flying back. He rammed into Yu's legs, almost knocking him over. Shadow Teddie's gaze moved to the Investigation Team. "That applies to you as well. You suffer because you attempt to find the 'truth.' The world is full of thick, heavy fog. How do you plan to find your precious 'truth' if you don't even have a vague idea of what you're looking for?"

Yu met the Shadow's gaze. "I don't know, but I will find it! If it even has a slight chance of being found, it will be!" He yelled at it.

"And thus you invite more suffering upon yourself. I do not understand it. Technically, obtaining the truth is rather simple. All you have to do is believe what you are seeing is the truth. Then I will grant you one simple truth. You will die in this room. You sought the truth, so I will grant it to you." Shadow Teddie said, effectively threatening them, though it was a little wimpy in Yu's eyes.

"Dammit… how are we going to beat this thing?" Yosuke asked.

"Don't worry about the details!" Rise yelled, somehow summoning her Persona. "I'll try and analyze it. My Persona can do that!"

"OK, one: we will worry about the details! Those are important!" Chie yelled. "And two: how the hell do you know your Persona's ability already?! You should be passed out on the ground!"

"Again, don't worry about the details Chie." Rise shot back. "Just don't shoot the Shadow with Bufu skills, and this is possible!"

Shadow Teddie scoffed, and transformed into a hole… wait no. He transformed into a giant cracked Teddie INSIDE a hole.

Everyone sent their Personas in, afraid of getting sucked into the hole if they try anything physical. Suzuka was sticking purely to physical attacks, taking Rise's advice to not attack with Bufu skills. Konohana fired off some Agi skills, but stayed on defense to make sure that she had the energy to heal later. Susano-o was obviously sticking to Garu skills, and Take was a mix of Zio and physical. Yu switched to Izanagi and sent him in to slash the shit out of their target.

Shadow Teddie was clearly annoyed at them, as they swerved around out of the way of his attacks every time he attempted to reach for them. Then he tried something new. He fell into his hole, and then came up with his paw in the air.

"Be careful!" Rise warned. "That attack's super powerful!"

"Everyone, guard!" Yu commanded. Everyone followed the command and held their weapons in a protective stance. They waited, and finally, Shadow Teddie attacked, the hand sweeping by them, knocking them off their feet, but otherwise unharmed. They all got back up quickly and continued to attack.

Shadow Teddie growled and finally connected an attack to Izanagi, sending him flying into a wall. Yu gasped at the pain as he fell to one knee.

Yukiko looked at him, worried. She made Konohana retreat to heal him. When he could stand again, Konohana dispersed, and Yukiko fell to her knees. "I'm spent." She muttered.

"OK, Yukiko's down, everyone be careful!" Yu called out. "Kanji, try and keep guard over her, if you would!" Kanji nodded and moved to Yukiko's side.

Shadow Teddie grinned when he heard that. He leaned forward and struck Chie before she could move. She was out of the game for at least the next minute. Yosuke picked her up and ran out of the range of the Shadow.

"Looks like down to me and Izanagi. Damn," Yu commented, looking at the massive foe.

Izanagi attacked, slashing at the creature as much as possible, while dodging his attacks. Shadow Teddie tried in vain to sweep the annoying bug away from him. Finally, Chie and Yosuke rejoined the fray, and Yukiko convinced Kanji to rejoin as well. One last collective smack caused Shadow Teddie to fall back into his hole, and then the hole disappeared, and a normal-sized Shadow Teddie lay where it had been.

"Damn, that was inside Teddie?" Yosuke asked.

"That appears to be the case…" Yu muttered, walking over and helping Teddie over to his Shadow.

Teddie stared at his other self. "I-I don't really know who I am." He admitted. Shadow Teddie didn't answer. "I've thought about it plenty of time when not helping my knights save anyone sent here. But this is my home, and I live regardless, so I will find out the truth!"

"You aren't alone. We'll help you in any way we can." Yu told him.

Teddie turned around. "Then I'm not alone? I'm such a lucky bear!" Teddie cried, which actually looked painful because of his deflated form.

Everyone looked at Shadow Teddie to see how he would react. He smiled happily and turned into a Persona. Everyone stared in shock at the new Persona. Teddie wasn't even human! It was a red… boiler, carrying a missile. A Missile!

"Wow, your Persona is really strong Teddie, I can feel it." Rise commented.

"OK, let's get out of here before a dog wanders in and has to face his Shadow." Yu said, turning around.

"Hang on Sensei-knight! My Persona has an ability that lets us get out of here like a Goho-m!" Teddie called out.

"Good, get us out of here then!" Yu demanded, completely done with this place.

"Right away!" Teddie called happily, summoning his Persona, teleporting them out.

When they were out, everyone left but Yu. Teddie started to do sit-ups. "Um, Teddie, maybe you should rest some." Yu advised.

"No, I'm going to train until I drop to grow my lovely fur back and become the strongest member on this team." Teddie told him between grunts.

"Right, well, I guess I'll leave you to that. I'll check on you in a month or so." Yu said, scooting away. He got the next rank in the Star Arcana.

At home, Yu was lying on the couch, half asleep, when Dojima returned home. "He's back!" Nanako told him quietly, but with excitement.

"I got that." Yu said, listening to Dojima's drunken rant that was currently directed at a step. Yu got up off the couch, though reluctantly, when he saw Dojima barely standing and using Adachi and Naoto as supports.

Yu briefly thought he heard Naoto mutter, "I hate this job, why the hell would I ever want to work with this drunken moron?"

"Woohoo, Nanako, Yu… I'm home!" Dojima drunkenly called out.

"Yeah, I got that." Yu muttered.

"Welcome home daddy." Nanako greeted solemnly.

"I'm sorry Nanako-chan, but would you mind preparing his futon please?" Adachi asked her, and the poor girl ran off immediately.

The two younger detectives carefully walked Dojima over to the couch and set him down there.

"Phew, I think he had a little too much to drink." Adachi commented.

"No, whatever gave you that idea?" Naoto snarled, clearly annoyed.

"Hey, don't take it out on me!" Adachi told her.

"You're the one who called me to come help you with your drunken boss!" She shot back.

"Yeah, but you're more of an assistant to him than me!" Adachi yelled.

"Only because you aren't there half the time! You're a slacker, and I'm surprised that you haven't been fired yet!"

Yu stepped between them. "Alright, I don't know what sparked this, but you both need to just leave me to deal with him. You both go home before you kill someone." He ordered.

The two of them stared at him. He just ordered a full-grown man to go to his room. They left regardless, and Yu was left to get Dojima to his room.

After he somehow summoned the strength to do that, he completely forgot to bid Nanako goodnight before collapsing on the couch in his room.

* * *

><p><strong>I am really bad at fight scenes, but I feel that one came out quite good. Better then some of the other, more vague ones, that's for sure.<strong>

**Also, Quil pre-ordered Persona Q. Maybe I could go over to her house after conferences, (Should my parents not jump on me about an overdue science project that I have no idea what I'm doing while attempting it.) Then we could just sit there in her room talking about the strange fact that it's in 1st person, not there in the Persona games since Persona 1.**


	23. Weirdness!

**Oh God, this chapter turned out really weird. For the hell of it, I added Dojima's Rank 9 Social Link event, because I had nothing else to do.**

**Anyway, got a little caught up playing Okami again, but now that I'm at the north coast, I think that I'll stop for a bit. Love the whole Ninetails part of it, but the Water Dragon part of it is really boring. Or that's just me hating timed things.**

**And I need 80 Demon Fangs for a flask that lets me teleport. I want it, and getting the Fangs isn't hard, but I just don't feel like turning on the Wii, now that's off because I had to make my lunch.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 23<p>

(28th) (Tuesday)

After school, Yu figured that he should look for the woman's wallet. You know, the one from the ema he got a couple weeks ago. You don't remember? Yeah, neither do I.

Anyway, he asked her what it looked like, because for some reason she hadn't found it, and hadn't canceled the credit cards in it yet. Yep, she's one smart cookie alright. She gave a basic description. Yu wandered away in a vain attempt to find in.

Not even half an hour later, he had found it, effectively making it not so vain, returning it to its owner. Like all of the people he helps with these quests, she ran off immediately to pay the shrine.

Yu was walking through Junes when he spotted Adachi. "Hey there." He greeted as he approached the slacker.

Adachi looked over at him. "Hey there. What are you doing here? Ah, scratch that. I know all too well by now that you have way too much time on your hands. Though I have to ask whether you believe it's safe to hang with me. After that first time, the trouble we got into with Naoto-kun…" He shivered. "It was bad."

"I've asked you this before. How is that going to stop me? Though she could have been at least a little nicer with the slapping." Yu replied, lightly rubbing his cheek where he had been slapped that day many months ago. He didn't exactly deserve it per say, but he figured he had just said something to set her off like a bomb.

"Yeah, well, enjoy the free time while it lasts." Adachi advised.

"So, are you slacking off again, or are you actually doing something this time?" Yu asked, though he had a good idea what it was.

"Well I'm, um, taking a breather." Adachi claimed, though Yu knew he was slacking. "Everyone needs rest from time to time. And today, that old lady has yet to find me…"

'Maybe if you worked, you wouldn't see her as much.' Yu thought, though he kept it to himself, as he didn't know how Adachi would react.

Adachi saw something Yu didn't. The elevator opened, and the old woman walked out. She looked around with a confused look as Adachi started to sweat. "Where did you go Tohru-chan?" She called out, and Adachi's sweat output increase.

Under his breath, Adachi was whispering, "Shit, shit, I don't want anymore nimono, you old hag!"

Before Adachi resorted to evasive action, there was a call from another person. "I'm right here, mother. Did you finish your shopping?" A snappingly dressed young lad walked out of the elevator, startling the two that weren't related to them.

"I sure did." The old lady replied. "You're here for the first time in ages, I have to…" She stopped when she spotted Adachi. "Why, hello there Detective!" She called. "Tohru-chan, this is Adachi-san. He's from the police department."

The young man, though he was really in his middle 30s at least, looked at Adachi, who just looked confused. "Hello." He greeted. "I hear you've been good to my mother."

"This is Tohru, my son." The woman introduced Adachi to the man. "He's in town to see me for a week."

Tohru laughed. "Well, I'm really here for my job, but yes, I am staying for the week."

The old woman looked sad. "Don't make an old woman sad, dear. Though it is good to know that you're working hard." She turned her attention to Adachi. "Tohru-chan is a kind young boy. He's the manager of a trading company already!"

The man seemed embarrassed and requested to leave, saying they were probably getting in the way of his work. As they walked away, they heard the conversation. "I'm going to make lots of your favorite, nimono!"

"Oh, great! Make sure the renkon is a little tough."

"Of course, dear." Then they were gone.

Adachi took a couple steps away from the place he had been frozen in when the old woman spotted him. "Looks like it doesn't have to be me. So that's the real one… We don't look anything alike! I mean, we aren't even in the same age group; the first name is the only thing we have in common! Well, I don't have to deal with her while he's here, so that's a relief." He sighed in great relief. "I wish she would just move in with him. I like being alone, and that woman really gets in the way of that."

"That true." Yu agreed, though he really didn't, not after most of his life being in isolation.

"Wow, you are really cold for a kid. But that is the smart way to be." Adachi smiled.

Something hit the back of Adachi's head. Yu hadn't been paying attention, but he now saw that Naoto had caught them again, and thwacked Adachi over the head for it. "You people never learn, do you?" She muttered.

Yu took a step back, kind of cowering. "Please don't hurt me." He whimpered.

"If you didn't hang out with this moron, I won't. But you do, so I have no real sympathy for you." She replied. As she was about to drag Adachi back to the police station, he made a run for it.

"Give it up Adachi; you're only getting yourself in deeper trouble!" Yu yelled as he started to give chase.

"Never! I don't want to go back and get punished by Dojima-san!" Adachi yelled back.

"Dude isn't very bright, is he?" Yu asked Naoto as they ran.

"Not in any way, shape and/or form." She replied.

After some minimal destruction of store property, the two had captured Adachi, who looked like he wanted to cry. "Geez, suck it up already, will you?" Yu told him as they started to walk back to the police department.

"No," was the bland response.

As Yu walked to the station, he got a report from Margaret. It was, 'Adachi's Social Link is having some technical difficulties as of the current moment, though you will get the Rank 6 bonus. We are sorry for the inconvenience, but we assure you we are working tirelessly to fix this problem. In the meantime, we suggest hanging out with your other friends. Good luck.' It sounded like it was a prerecorded message. Did the other visitor she mentioned run into a similar problem?

(29th) (Wednesday)

Yu walked with Yukiko to the shrine. He needed to talk to the fox anyway. He got the ema first, and it was to catch a MASSIVE fish. Great, what fun that will be?

Anyway, onto Yukiko's Social Link…

She wanted to pay she respects here. "Are you going to wish for anything as well?" She asked him.

"I'm going to wish for everyone. That we are safe trying to clear away the fog in the TV world." Yu responded.

Yukiko nodded. "That's good. I don't want anything to happen to us down there where no one can save us if we run into an enemy that we can't take down. I'm wishing for everyone's health."

She turned to face the shrine, as did Yu. They went through general prayer things. (I'm not a religious person, so I don't know the first thing about this sort of thing.)

When they finished, Yukiko announced, "I've decided that I'm not going to leave Inaba." Yu looked over at her. "I've never really objected to being the manager, but I got the feeling after a while that my life was completely on rails, and I hated that. But I've decided, I'm going to protect the Inn. It's too close to my heart. Thank you, you made me realize this important fact. That's because you were with me all this time. By the way, why are you with me all of time?"

Yu had to think for a second. He couldn't tell her it was mostly because of the Social Link bonuses he gets when fusing Persona, not that he used that a whole lot anyway. Then he got the perfect excuse. "Because I don't like to see people having problems that mess with their whole lives."

Yukiko nodded. "That makes sense, though I have to ask, why were you so anti-social when you first came here, but now go out of your way to help others?"

"That's classified information." Yu stated simply.

Yukiko rolled her eyes. "Right, because that's really something that you would do. Classify information." She pulled something out of her pocket, holding it out to Yu. He grabbed it, and looked at it. It was a charm. "This has been my lucky charm for many years, but I think you might need it more, I don't want you to die, or go insane from the weirdoes that you hang out with."

"You're insulting yourself. You are one of the weirdoes." Yu told her, and he heard her mutter, 'Oops, should have thought about that.'

"Right anyway, see you tomorrow alright? I'm still trying to work on my cooking skills, and I hope that by Christmas I can make something edible, and hopefully tasty. Wish me luck!" Yukiko turned and ran off, so Yu started to go home, when he saw Yukiko fall to the ground.

He ran over and crouched by her. "You alright?"

Yukiko looked disoriented. "I think my Persona changed." She muttered.

"Ah, shit, should have thought about that. Sorry, but you're going to be tired for the rest of the day. Non-wild cards are generally weak after changing Personas, as I figured out from Yosuke and Chie." He helped her up and walked her back to the Inn.

"Hey, you're back. I sent Nanako to your room to wait for something. Do you mind getting her?" Dojima welcomed him while asking him a favor. What an amazing way to welcome someone back.

Yu shrugged and retrieved his cousin from his room, where she was laughing at the random tricks that Rie could perform. She followed him back down the stairs.

What they found there surprised both of them. There was a cake, and each person's coffee mug, holding, well, coffee.

"Wow, what are we celebrating?" Nanako asked, delight sparkling in her eyes.

Dojima scratched the back of his head. "Well, today is a bit of a special day for us." Nanako stared at him, trying to figure out what it was. "Today is the day that I pronounce that you, me, and him become a 'real' family."

"Wow, really? I don't quite understand it, but it makes me happy anyways!" Nanako smiled happily.

"Alright then, let's eat." Dojima walked forward and cut the cake.

Sometime later, Nanako had fallen asleep, and had been put to bed. Dojima laughed lightly as he walked out of her room. "I'm sorry I had to drag you into this."

"I don't mind. It was actually quite a bit of fun." Yu smiled. "Though Rie throwing cake into your face was a bit funny, I'm sure you weren't happy. We need to talk to her about that."

"Yeah, we really do." Dojima frowned, fingering his face to find any pieces of cake stuck to his face. "I felt like I had to do this to draw the line. And I wanted Nanako to know how precious she is to me. She really starting to look more like her, Chisato. Her smile, strong attitude. After my wife died, I found it hard to look at Nanako. Chisato died while going to pick up Nanako. I wanted to believe it was that reason, and I almost believed it. However, I can't count the number of times she's saved me, just by being there." He sat down at the table.

"If Nanako hadn't been with me, I would never have even thought about taking you in. I think that I was scared. To have someone else around, that we would become a family and that I would loss it all when you went away again. I know now that you have to come back though." Dojima smiled as he leaned back. "You've shown me quite a bit this year. Thank you, Yu."

* * *

><p><strong>And… rather abrupt ending. Yay. Anyway, tomorrow is Monday, and then comes Tuesday! I think you know what will come then!<strong>


	24. Passing The Days Boringly

**Alright, i decided that since I'm on the computer with nothing to do, that I would pump out another chapter. Surprisingly, this one happens to be longer that the last one considering the fact that most of it was written today. I started typing at the 1st.**

**Yeah, three days, with 2,500 words for you to read. Have fun!**

* * *

><p>Chapter 24<p>

(30th) (Thursday)

Yu wanted to finish the Hermit Arcana today. Only problem, he was a horrible fisher. He had taken the time to use the bug net that he got from what he assumed was a ghost at the shrine, and he caught a bunch of the bugs that he needed to catch the damn thing, but he was just not doing very well at all.

Off to the side, he spotted Kanji walking around the shallower end of the bank. Yu sighed as he pulled up his line, empty-handed. He set down the rod and walked over to a kid that was watching Kanji with desperate eyes. "Hey Kanji, what happened?" Yu called out.

"That kid there flung a plush bunny into the river because he was taunted about it. I'm trying to find it now that it's washed away." Kanji called back, starting to wade back to where Yu and the kid were waiting. "Look, I'm good with my hands, so I'll make you another one for that girl. It won't be the same, but it will be a decent replacement."

The boy brightened. "Alright, I'll go apologize anyway." With that, he turned around and ran away.

"Sorry, didn't think that you would be around there. Looks like I still have a soft side."

"Still?" Yu questioned. "As far as I can tell, it never disappeared to begin with. Whatever, this is perfect for you to get in touch with your true self. You won't need me to help you out with your little Shadow problem."

"Right, I'm sure that won't fail. Anyway, what are you doing, or you know, before you came over here?" Yu remembered that he was trying to catch the Guardian, so he told Kanji that he didn't have the strength. "Need my help then? I have the most arm strength of the group anyway." He offered.

Yu happily agreed, and half an hour later, they had caught it. They showed it to the old man, who happily accepted it, running home to tell everyone he knew that the Guardian was now hanging on his wall. Yu shouted that he needed to pay the Shrine, and the man didn't stop running, but he somehow managed to flash a thumbs-up to the two.

At Shu's place…

Yu and Shu sat down at the table. "The people that make up these equations are geniuses. I wish I was one."

Yu rolled his eyes. He was a natural at school, and he was complaining about not being a natural? Yu had to STUDY to get where he was. "Shu, you already are, but later, it will get harder, and the only real way is to work hard."

"You can get it like that? I thought that you had to be born one. I've already been trying really hard though. Is it not enough?" Shu moved his gaze to the floor. "I'm sorry, I'm really tired today. Can we finish the lesson next time?" He looked back to Yu, putting on a happy face. "Let's move on to something else. What's up?"

"OK, then, you really want to hear what random stuff spews from my mouth?" Shu nodded, though he seemed scared now. "Alright then, I'll tell you about what kind of girl I like. I want one that won't demand a lot, but isn't shy when she does want something. If possible, I don't want anyone that has any super annoying quirks, like being a clean freak." He launched into the subject, kind of getting lost in it.

"Well, that was surprising." Shu commented when Yu finished. "And I really mean surprising too." He started to laugh. After he calmed down, he looked at the clock. "Looks like we're out of time. Thanks, you really helped me relax there. I actually like to hear you ramble. It's funny."

Shu bid him goodbye, and Yu left, feeling plenty bolder after describing the girl he wanted.

* * *

><p>(1st) (Friday)<p>

It was raining. He figured that his Social Links wouldn't like wandering around in it. So he decided to see the fox. At the shrine, he called out in his best foxish, (As he started to call it, because it didn't have a technical name) "Hey, come on down!"

He had been practicing with the dog that walked with him to school every day that no one else was around, and he felt that he was getting pretty good at it, though the dog said something to him that he believes means that he has a really heavy accent.

The fox appeared, jumping down with the man's ema in its mouth. It seemed worried, and when Yu asked, the fox replied with what Yu believes was a, "We're getting close. I don't want anything to go wrong."

Yu smiled and rubbed the fox's head. "Same here. However, I did catch that fish he wanted. He was pretty happy, and I had to remind him to pay you."

The fox howled in happiness, running around Yu's legs before checking the offering box. "Come here." The fox demanded. Though he was confused, Yu walked over to the box and peered inside. What was inside, or lack of, shocked him. There was no money. "Thieves." The fox said angrily.

Yu tried to calm down the fox, and he finally managed it, though it still looked pissed. They heard a man's voice yelling, and the fox ran away. Yu moved to a place where the man could have the space he so wanted. After a while, he sat down, and the fox joined him, waiting.

Apparently, it was a construction crew, and Yu had to hold the fox back when they started to work on the shrine. He calmed down after he saw the golden sheen that the men were putting on the old dirty shrine. In the end, almost everything had been replaced that was old, and everything looked amazing.

"Looks like the money we saved up wasn't stolen after all." Yu muttered to the fox as he ran around, inspecting the new offering box. "A crew was instructed to fix the place up."

A boy walked up, ignoring the fox completely as he placed some yen in the box, whispering, "God, you helped my friend out when he needed you. Please, grant my wish too. I brought my allowance, though it isn't much." He turned around and walked away, still not noticing the fox that was watching him with interest.

A woman walked forward, asking her wish be granted. She threw in a rather large offering. She left, so Yu told the time to peer into the offering box. 'It'll be full in no time at this rate.' He thought. The fox yipped happily at him, running over to his ema stashing place, and grabbed another one.

'More?' Yu thought as he grabbed the ema. He looked it over, and found it was a **gratitude ema.** It had the fox's footprints on it, as the fox couldn't write. It howled and told him, "This is for you, as a token of my gratitude for helping me and the shrine!"

Yu smiled as he was awarded the final Persona of the Hermit Arcana. The fox seemed to smile as well as he told Yu that he would continue to work to improve the shrine to the best of his abilities. Yu promised that he would help on a day that he had nothing to do before walking home, as he had spent more time than he had expected with the fox. He was satisfied with his work that day.

When he got home, Nanako greeted and added, "It's almost Tanabata, so I set up some bamboo."

Yu walked over to it, thinking of what to write. He thought, maybe for the case to be over, but he was starting to feel that without the ears there, life would be a sort of empty. Then came the thought about getting a girlfriend. He realized that with the fact that everyone calls him a 'chick magnet,' he shouldn't have any trouble finding the type of girl that he described to Shu. Then the perfect thought came to him. He wrote it down without hesitation. On the paper was "World Domination!"

As he walked to the hospital, he stopped to help that dog that was digging at the hard earth. A minute later, he pulled up two conveniently sized bones. "Thank you for helping, mister!" The dog barked to him. "If you want them, you can have them. I want the third bone that was underneath those two." The dog took a couple steps forward, leaning into the hole and pulling up another bone that was hidden under a bit more dirt. He walked away, content, while Yu tried to figure out what to do with the bones. He figured that he would give them to Yosuke later. If the teen could use stiff fish as weapons, reason (Or lack thereof) dictates that the bones should be just as effective, if not more.

At the hospital, Yu saw the nurse as per usual, only today, she was just a little pissed. "Did you hear that commotion a second ago?" She asked. Yu vaguely had heard someone yelling a moment ago, but he had thought it best to pretend that he hadn't. "That was the first time that someone has called me a 'slutty bitch' to my face."

Not entirely sure of what to tell her, he decided on joking about it. "Seems like we're in a soap opera."

Sayoko seemed to lighten up a little. "Seriously though, when I laughed at her feeble attempt at an insult, she tried to scratch me. Who's the bitch now?" She smiled slightly, now considerably less moody. "When I was at the hospital I worked in before, I was in a relationship with one of the doctors. But, he had a wife." She looked to the ground.

"She found out, and forced me to quit. So I started working here. It seems that he has started to flirt with another nurse though. I don't get it. The wife came all the way over here just to bitch at me. I'm not even involved!" She looked back at Yu, her face full of annoyance. "The other nurses just stood there and watched, stupid smirks plastered onto their faces.

"It really can't be helped. Don't mind them." Yu told her.

The nurse briefly smiled. "You're right, I probably wouldn't have done much more if they were in the same pickle. Strangers are strangers." Sayoko walked over to the window, looking out it at the pouring rain that Yu had to walk through on the way in. She sighed. "Everything's such a pain. It wasn't like this, when I first became a nurse. What am I working for? What am I living for?" She questioned herself.

Yu tried to comfort her, though he wasn't quite sure what to say. She looked over to him, a smile slowing growing on her face. "You're a real bold kid, you know that?" She asked him.

Sayoko moved to leave while Yu got his Rank Up. She put her hand on his shoulder. "Thank you, now be careful going home, OK?"

* * *

><p>(2nd) (Saturday)<p>

After school was out, Yu walked with Kanji to the hill overlooking the town. It was rather deserted, so he guessed that Kanji wanted to give the kid his new rabbit in privacy. They waited a couple minutes, and the boy finally ran up.

Kanji handed him a box. "Here, the new rabbit's in here. No complaining about it though, got it?"

The boy looked inside. Besides the already elaborate bunny, it also had a hat, umbrella, and even clothes. Guess Kanji went a little over the top there.

The boy gasped. "This is amazing! Didn't you say that you would be the one making it?"

Kanji nodded shyly. "Yeah, it was me. What about it?"

"Do you think that you could make me one as well?!"The boy asked with excitement.

Kanji smiled. "I thought that you might ask something like that, so I went ahead and did so already." He handed the boy another box. This bunny had clothes, a cap, shoes, and a football. (Technically a soccer ball, but I call that sport Football and American Football, Concussion-ball.) It was just as elaborate as the last one.

The boy stared at the bunny. "Wow!" He stuttered quietly. "This is amazing, thank you! Do you think that you can start making more of this sort of thing, then start selling them? You'd make a fortune, and us kids would be really happy. Mom loves this sort of thing as well."

"Well, I don't know about that, but I can make some stuff for your mother." Kanji replied.

"OK, one step at a time then, but you promised. You have to make some more! I'm going to do give this to Sana-chan. Thank you!" The boy ran off to find his friend.

"Wow, he called you cool." Yu teased with mock shock. Kanji snarled at him. "Seriously, why am I here again?"

"I guess that you just make a good support." Kanji smiled

Yu rolled his eyes as they started to chat about non-related things before Yu had to go home.

At Shu's house, Yu tutored Shu, end of story. OK, not.

"I've got a big test coming up soon. It's going to cover a lot of the things that we've learned. Oh well, I'll be at the head of the class again. I won't lose!" Despite seeming to try and be determined, Shu was clearly anxious. "Hey, getting good grades, being good-looking, fun to talk to, and good at sports… Is it possible to be all of those things? Do you know anyone like that?"

'Duh, me.' Yu thought, so he voiced it.

"Oh, you are really full of yourself, aren't you?" Yu was shocked at the blunt disregard to the honesty presented to him. "Teach me your ways sensei!" He laughed, and Yu followed right along. The mood suddenly darkened considerably. "I've been having this dream lately. And in it, I'm on a train. It keeps speeding up, but I don't know where the tracks will end."

"That's called life, Shu." Yu told him.

Shu shook his head. "But, there are no exits,"

'Again, that's life.' Yu thought.

"But someone keeps coming from a car behind me. I hear the door open, and I get really scared. Every time I have that dream, the person gets one car closer."

"OK, in that case, you're possessed." Yu somehow said with a straight face.

Shu wasn't amused. "Huh? Please don't make fun of me. Sleep is supposed to be my escape from everything that goes on in the real world, but I can't even do that." Shu seemed troubled. "If I'm not at my best, then I'll…" He seemed tormented, so Yu tried to cheer him up, with a good amount of success. "Thanks, I just need to do my best. I feel like I will be able to sleep tonight."

* * *

><p><strong>There you people are. Probably won't have another chapter until around December. I should have gotten annoyed at the game by then, give or take a couple days though. <strong>


	25. Shortness!

**Persona Q is really close now, but the mail person will come some time after noon, so I decided to throw out a rather short chapter for you people that are still reading this. I could have done better, I'm sure, but it wouldn't be any better than this. I'm way to anxious to get my premium version!**

* * *

><p>Chapter 25<p>

(3rd) (Sunday)

Yu only had one thing in mind today. He was going to hang with the old lady down at the river. He had all day, every Sunday, so unless something came up, he would be done a lot faster than a lot of the other Links that he's had to go through.

At the river, Hisano invited him to sit with her, so he did. It seems that she had been thinking until she said out loud, "But still…" Yu tilted his head to look at her, confused at the words. "The more I look at you, the more you look like him. His eyes were smaller, his hair was shorter, and his nose was a bit lower… He was a handsome man." She didn't say who 'he' was.

"Um, who are you talking about?" Yu asked.

The woman smiled. "My husband. He was a kind man. Quite an attractive one to." She was speaking in past tense. "My husband passed away recently." Yu felt sorry for her. "Do I look like Death to you?"

Yu looked up in surprise. What the heck was with this woman? "No way, you don't!"

"I see. You mustn't become Death, Yu-chan." She smiled sadly. "When I'm with you, I feel like he's forgiven me. Course, that can't be true. After all, I'm the one who…" She trailed off. "I'll see you later."

Yu wanted to talk to her some more, but she pushed him away. He decided to come back a little later that day.

* * *

><p>(Sometime later…)<p>

Yu walked over and started to talk to Hisano, who nearly had a heart attack because she hadn't been aware of his presence. He took a seat beside her. "Scare you?" He asked.

"Yes, you did, please, don't do that." She replied unhappily. "Watching the river sure brings back some fond memories. Before I was a wrinkled old lady. I met my husband here. He was part of traveling actors, so they came here every year, and I met him by this river one year. He fell in love with me, and the same happened to me. He quit his job with the actors, though he was quite good at it, and moved here, taking up fieldwork. He wasn't very good at it though. He was quite proud of what he could do regardless."

"I'm jealous." Yu admitted. "Not everyone falls in love and gets married to the first person that they met. I wish I was that lucky."

"I'm sure the day will come where you will find the one that's perfect for you. I have no doubt." She sighed. "Right now, all I want is to be by his side. But I know that I never will. There is no doubt he went to Heaven, and that I will surely go to Hell."

"Don't say that!" Yu yelled. "You're a nice person, and you don't deserve to go to the place where murderers go!"

"I wish that were the case. I think that is a story for another day, however. I must be going. I hope to see you again, Yu-chan." The old woman got up and walked away, leaving Yu confused, and a little scared.

* * *

><p>(4th) (Monday)<p>

After school, Yu decided that it was time to pry some info from Naoki. He joined the health club again for the hell of it, and found the place to be a complete mess once again. At this point, Yu was annoyed, so he launched into a half an hour long rant about how someone needs to learn that not cleaning up anything will kill someone soon.

Now out of breath, he left to have some ramen with Naoki. "Dude, this place is amazing. I need to remember to come here every time that it's raining. The Rainy Day Mega Beef Bowl is awesome, and so worth the 3,000 yen." Yu muttered through a mouthful of ramen noodles.

"Yeah, same. I forgot how amazing it is here. After middle school started and everyone started to expect me to live up to the straight A's that my sister had, I guess I lost the will to come. Man, I'm an idiot for that." He smiled briefly. "Everyone expects me to be as amazing as my sister, but I can't do that! I'm not as good as her, and I can't be, but no one sees that."

"Are you trying your hardest though?"

Naoki nodded. "I am, but I'm not that sort of person that can just do school work effortlessly. My sister's good with that, but I'm not her! I'm sorry, I got carried away. You did say that you would be trying to pry information from me. Looks like you succeeded." He got up, leaving his money on the table for the owner to pick up later.

* * *

><p>(5th) (Tuesday)<p>

Yu was running out of things to do, so he went with Naoki again. This time, they went to eat at Souzai Daigaku for the hell of it. Naoki was currently telling him an embarrassing story (for another student) that happened a couple days ago in 1st period. "Then Masaya made up an excuse for why he was late. He said that the 'wind had been really strong.'"

Yu chuckled, the boy could have said that a teacher just needed his help with something, not that the wind had been strong. What happened, his supplies flew away?

"The teacher got really pissed at us for it. He yelled, 'Everyone, shut your eyes, right now!' He started to scold us. No one had any idea of why we had to close our eyes though, and it felt awkward. After he was done scolding us, he started class again and yells out, 'Masaya, answer the question on the board!'" Naoki chuckled. "Masaya replies with, 'Um, but I can't see the board with my eyes closed though.' The teacher lost it and ran out the room in a fit of rage. The rest of the period was ours."

The two laughed, and then Naoki wanted to know of a failure that he had been a part of. He decided on the Babe Hunt in Okina City. "OK, you want to know one? Just don't tell anyone else this story, OK? This is something that happened after Yosuke and I got our scooters. This was Yosuke's plan, and the very reason we wanted the scooters to begin with. He originally wanted a motorcycle, but he couldn't afford one only working at Junes."

So Yu launched into the story of the Hunt, accounting even his petting of the cat that made him forget what they were doing to being with. Finally, he reached the end. "And so Hanako jumps to sit on the scooter. I swear, time went into slow-motion as Yosuke tried to stop her. It was too late though, and there was a crunch as parts of the scooter went flying everywhere. Hanako looked at the wreckage and said, "This scooter's broken." She jumped off and walked away, leaving Yosuke devastated and with no way to get back to Inaba."

Naoki was practically in tears at the hilariousness of the fact that even Yu had a bad time trying to pick up a chick. "Oh God, that's good." He had to take a couple minutes to catch his breath. "Oh, when was the last time that I laughed like that?"

They started to eat their food again. Some housewives came to get some grub as well and started to whisper when they saw Naoki. Thanks to Yu acute sense of hearing, he heard it all. "That's Saki Konishi's brother, right?" One of them asked.

"Yeah," The other answered. "I hear that he isn't as good as Saki-chan though. I wonder what happened. His sister's so smart."

The two got their food and left. Judging from the boy's expression, Yu guessed that Naoki heard it. "You heard what they said there, didn't you?" Naoki nodded. "Don't let them get to you. You're smart in your own right. Maybe not in school, but you have other talents that can make up for it."

Naoki didn't seem happy with that. "Like what? I don't have anything that my sister doesn't!"

"Sure you do. You have just yet to find it. When you find what you're good at, then you will surely know, without any doubt."

Naoki nodded. "Thanks for today. I honestly can't remember the last time that I laughed at some of the stupider things in life. The last time that I ENJOYED the stupid, small things."

Yu smiled. "Anytime. Though, I will probably avoid telling you anymore embarrassing stories like the plague. I'm glad that you got a kick out of it, but it was at my expense."

* * *

><p><strong>I think that I am slowly worsting on my endings. I mean look at that. That is horrible. Not like cruel, 'Oh my God, what is going to happen next, I can't wait for the next chapter' sort of bad, this is just bad.<strong>

**Whatever man. I can't decided on whether King Moron should die or not. Think I should. If he doesn't then he will be removed some other way, and most of the time where everyone is all 'Oh God, King Moron, Mitsuo!' That will probably be replaced with a sort of Mini Arc (Like Naruto filler episodes) where a previous one of Yu's girlfriends comes to Inaba to get him back, though he doesn't want it, and from there, complications ensue. That is probably what will happen. Most of the Social Links that take up that time are done, so I have to fill the void somehow.**

**Also, during that time, I will try to work on the pairs that I said that I would add in, but never really did much about.**


	26. Things are getting interesting

**As it turns out, I won't be getting Persona Q until at least the 1st. So, for those poor unfortunate souls that don't already have it, or don't plan to, here is a chapter.**

** Plenty of people probably won't see this until they have played Persona Q to absolute death. (I'm looking at you Quil, that seems likely.)**

**Until I get the game, I will be working on my story, touching up another one in hopes of making that one uploadable. You know. That sort of thing.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 26<p>

(6th) (Wednesday)

Yu groaned as he walked down the street to school. The dog beside him whimpered. Yu looked at her and smiled. "Only a couple more weeks, and we'll be done with school for a couple months. Course, I won't forget about feeding you." He crouched and stroked the dog's head. "You know, I need to give you a name. I can't keep calling you 'dog'."

The dog barked. "I don't have a name. I never did. Are you willing to give me one? What will it be?" She started running around his legs, yipping in glee.

"Alright, alright…" Yu started to think. What to name her…? Off in the distance, the first bell rang. "Oh shit! Sorry, I'll think about it later. I think that you might be named tomorrow at least!" He ran away to the school.

* * *

><p>(After school…)<p>

Yu never quite noticed how many of his friends were available on Wednesdays. He had Naoki, Kanji, Ai, and at night he had Sayoko. Looks like he would really be putting off the naming of his dog friend until tomorrow, as well as other events.

He decided that he would hang out with Ai, who he was seriously behind with by this point, and if he had any time left afterwards, he would ride around on his scooter, which he kind of forgot existed.

He found Ai, and then she ran off, ordering him to stay by the shoe lockers. As he waited, that basketball guy that he hadn't talked to in forever, Kou, was it? Whatever his name, he came over and started to chat. "Hey there Yu."

Some of Kou's 'friends' (He wasn't sure, probably just classmen.) came over. "Hey, aren't you both on the basketball team?"

Yu froze. He hadn't been to practice in forever because he was trying to work on other social links. Another boy spoke up before Kou could say something about it, which Yu was sure he would. "Isn't Ai Ebihara your manager?"

The other boy said, "Wow, I'm jealous!"

Kou sighed. "She doesn't even come to practice, you guys."

One of the boys laughed. "Probably because she's always on the prowl for a handsome dude."

The boy in the back, who hadn't talked until now, smirked. "Yeah, I hear she's pretty loose. Doesn't it look like she has a sugar daddy or two?" The other boys joined in, except Kou, who didn't look like he enjoyed the bad mouthing.

"Hey, stop that!" Yu yelled at them.

Kou looked quite offended at the thought at the comments the boys were making. "Cut the crap, you guys. You have no way of knowing if anything like that is even close to true!"

The others looked frightened, like 'shit, they're going to beat us up for that.' Course, the two basketball players had no intention of doing so, but the boys ran away with an excuse of being late anyway.

Kou sighed. "I'm sorry. I know that you and Ai-chan are getting to be pretty close now, right? Those guys aren't normally that bad, so please, don't hold it against them."

'They just insulted my friend. Why would I not hold it against them, at least a little?' Yu thought as Kou left.

Yu leaned against the lockers. That was a (semi) nice distraction. He heard footsteps, so he turned around, and found Ai's face was really close. "Hi," he muttered as he took a step back. He found that Ai looked hurt. "I take it you heard their, um… conversation there, huh?"

Ai's expression didn't change. "They were practically yelling it. Not that it really bothers me, I'm kind of come to expect it from them. They don't know me, so why should I care about the rude things that come out of their mouths? Don't worry about it. Let's go." Ai walked away, and Yu gave chase.

As it turned out, Ai just wanted to go home at that point, which Yu didn't really mind. He got home and started to ride his scooter around, intending to do so until it was dark.

Instead, he got distracted when he saw a perfectly functioning silver motorcycle with a 'for sale' sign on it by the road that he was riding on. It wasn't far from the house of the soon to be previous owner. It cost 40,000 yen though. He had the money, and it came with the protective gear for his legs, two leather jackets, two full face helmets that would fit teenagers, two pairs of gloves. It was all included, and for an extra 10,000, it would come with some pretty amazing riding lessons.

After Shu's lessons and working at the hospital, plus the things that he sold to Daidara from the TV, he figured that he could afford it. He pulled out his phone and looked through his contacts. Finding the one he wanted, he dialed it, and listened to the ringing.

"Hello?" A gruff voice picked up.

"What do you think about me getting a motorcycle?" Yu asked; trying not to laugh at the response his uncle would give that was playing through his head.

"What the hell…? You did already get your license, but I don't know. I don't want you getting hurt." Dojima replied.

"It comes with riding lessons for an extra 10,000 yen, and it comes with all the protective gear that you could ever want. I can pay for it all. What do you say, do you mind?"

Yu swore he could hear his uncle's jaw smack the ground. "You can pay for it all? How much is it, how can you pay?"

Yu laughed. "Yeah, remember the jobs that I got at the hospital, and tutoring? Yeah, that tutoring job pays me 10,000 yen every time. I think that I can pay for it. The bike and its add-ons add up to 40,000 yen, so I think I might be a tad bit on the broke side afterwards."

"A total of 50,000 yen, and you have the money to pay for it?! F-fine, but I don't want to hear that you landed yourself in the hospital, or anyone else for that matter, all right?!" Dojima yelled, and hung up without another word.

Yu jumped up in the air and yelled in happiness. He ran over to the house of the man that was selling the bike. He knocked on the door, and let out a shudder. Whether it was the anticipation, or the cold, he had no way of knowing, but finally, the owner opened the door, and requested to know what he wanted.

"You're the guy selling the bike over there, right?" Yu asked, pointing his thumb out behind him in the direction of the motorcycle.

The guy nodded. "Yeah, I am. You looking to buy it?" Yu nodded. "How much money you got on you?"

Yu opened his wallet. Looking inside, he replied, "Enough to pay it all today with no problem."

The man looked into the wallet. "Wow." He muttered. "That's impressive. It's more than enough to pay for it all, so I assume that you earned it all yourself?" Yu nodded. "Now that is even more impressive!"

The man walked outside, putting his hand on the side of the two-wheeled vehicle. "I'd say that I can get you riding by the time that your summer starts if we start work today, and you report to me by at least 5:00 every day. What do you say kid, we got a deal?" He held out his hand.

Yu grasped the hand firmly, and replied, "It's a deal, mister."

The man laughed. "Please, call me Unten-shi."

"Well, that's a little straightforward, but alright then Unten-shi-sensei." Yu smiled.

Unten-shi shook his head. "No, leave out the sensei. I'm going to teach you to ride a motorcycle, not any sort of life lesson that you need to survive in this dang world."

Yu laughed. "Alright then, if you want me too. If we're going to start, then start, Unten-shi."

Unten-shi nodded. "Right. First, we will start with the dos and don'ts. Specifically, we will start with the don'ts. I will drill this into your head some many times that you won't forget until you die, got it? Already then, first up, never, under any circumstances, ride without wearing jeans, or anyone who rides with you, got it?"

Yu nodded. "That's what the leg gear is for, right?"

"Right, bones can be put back together. Though skin doesn't quite come back the same. That is the only thing that I should really grill into your memory."

Unten-shi launched into other relevant things about the stupid things to not do on a motorcycle. After a couple hours of standing out in the cold, Yu left.

At home, while Yu ate dinner, Dojima arrived from work. "So you getting it?"

Yu turned his head to look at the man. "Yeah, Unten-shi said that I might be able to ride the bike by the time summer comes around with a little less worry about crashing then if he said, 'wear some protective gear,' and left me to have my fun."

Poor Nanako, who Yu didn't tell her of the motorcycle, nor any of his friends because he wanted it to be a surprise, asked, "Um… what are you talking about, big bro?"

Yu turned his head back to her. "Just wait until summer, and I'll show you."

"Nanako is not riding on that thing!" Dojima said sternly.

"I wasn't planning on it. She needs to grow a little; otherwise the wind will blow her away like a leaf. Plus, I didn't think that you would let me anyway. I sure as hell wouldn't let me." Yu assured his uncle.

"I want to know what it is!" Nanako yelled.

Yu got up, preparing for his hospital job. "I told you, you'll see by the summer. If it makes you feel better, none of my friends have any idea of it either. God, Yosuke is going to be soooooo jealous."

* * *

><p>(At the hospital….)<p>

Sayoko brought him to the empty room that she always brought him to. She seemed down. "Did something happen Sayoko?" Yu asked her.

Sayoko turned around and snarled. "Do you think that you're a counselor now?" She calmed down quickly. "I'm sorry, there isn't any point in taking it out on you, is there? I just got a call from the hospital that I worked at before. The patient that I had been assigned to… he died. He was only a small child too. He had said that he had wanted to go to school, but it doesn't look like he ever had the chance. He proposed to me, and I told him that I would think about it when he became an adult."

She seemed really angry "But, I just forgot about him. After I transferred, I was so busy. I thought about him now and again, but pretty soon, I just… forgot. He was fighting for his life all that time!" She looked about ready to cry. "What am I doing…?"

"Don't blame yourself. You did all that you could when you were with him." Yu tried to calm down the poor nurse.

"But I do blame myself. Of course I do. Why did I transfer?" She questioned herself like the last time he had been with her. "When a patient gets better, they leave me behind. It was me to leave someone behind this time, though. I should have done something to help."

"Don't say that. What's done is done. The fact that you care about a boy that many people have forgotten about by now is something important. That little boy would have loved to hear that, I'm sure."

Sayoko was seriously about to cry. She drew a shaky breath. "You're right, aren't you? I'm glad that you were here for me today. There has to be something more for me to do. Thank you." She wiped away any sighs of sadness and left the room.

Yu finished his job, got his money, and left.

* * *

><p>(7th) (Thursday)<p>

Yu had a bit of time until he had to report to Unten-shi, so he decided to hang with Ai. She dragged him to the rooftop to talk. "Hey, um, thanks for stopping those boys yesterday."

"They shouldn't have been saying those things to begin with. I couldn't just sit back and watch them." Yu told her.

"Yeah, but it made me... you know, happy." She walked away from the fence, closer to him. "I'm in a bit of a strange mood later. Last night I couldn't sleep, and when I think about it, my heart starts beating faster. What do I do?"

Yu was a little frightened now. Was she in love with him? She didn't quite fit what he wanted though.

Ai's face was clearly a bright red as she started to stutter out, I-I think… that I might be… I might be in love. Kind of funny really, I mean, why now? I keep thinking about yesterday nonstop. It's-it's Kou-kun."

Yu sighed. Dodged a bullet there. "Do you know if he has a boyfriend, or if I'm his type?" OK, maybe not yet. "Or do you think that he hates people like me?" Yu figured that he really shouldn't say anything. "Hey, say something, will you? I have a serious problem here! You're the only person I know that could help."

Yu sighed, "Alright, alright, calm down. I'll attend practice sometime and ask him what his type is."

Ai smiled gratefully. "Thank you, Yu-kun. That really will help me."

* * *

><p>(After a couple hours with Unten-shi) (At the hospital)<p>

Nothing happened, no Sayoko talking to him, no old ladies scaring the shit out of him. Nothing, until he was leaving that is. He heard some nurses talk to each other. Yu was practically a master at eavesdropping by this point, with the morons spurting useful info out their pieholes on the way to school.

"Which room was it; you know the one that had the patient Sayoko-san mentioned.

The other nurse didn't have a happy expression on her face. "What?! You'd better get moving, or she'll yell at you!"

"She's been really scary lately." The other one commented. "She's been trying too…" The nurse stopped short when her co-worker covered her mouth as a sign that said nurse was right there.

"If you have time to chat, you have time to check on some of the patients." Sayoko said sternly. "Nataka-san, Room 512, did you finish disimpacting the patient?"

"I-I was just about to go do that…" The frightened nurse muttered timidly.

"I can see that you are quite skilled… at slacking off." She turned to the other nurse. "Takahashi-san, that equipment form wasn't filled out properly. In several places."

Takahashi didn't seem to know what to do. "I'm sorry, I'll fix it…"

"Too late. It has been fixed and sent in already. Just leave now." The nurses followed her orders and walked away to do nurse-y things. Out of the corner of her eye, Sayoko spotted Yu. "I see that you were working. Good job. I'll be leaving now."

Yu stopped her. "You look like you've been taking things seriously since yesterday. You look tired, though I won't stop you. Hang in there."

Sayoko smiled and nodded. "Right, I can still work." She looked around. "Nice and clean. I like you because you don't slack off like some people. Well, I have to be going. People to help out, you know?" She walked away, leaving Yu to get his money and disappear from the hospital.

* * *

><p><strong>Yeah, I got the idea for a motorcycle not just from Yosuke, but also because my 60 year old dad bought one about a month ago, and it is a complete beast. I'm thinking of naming it, like the family's cars. The motorcycle my dad has is a girl that has a German name for Lady, or something like that. I'm still trying to remember it. Tell me what I should name it!<strong>

**Unten-shi means Motorman, for those who don't want to bother looking it up. It seemed to fit.**

**Also, name the DOG! I'm thinking of just naming her Ammy, but you know, that would be boring if I didn't ask others what they think. (Not that I'll get a reply to it anyway) if no one says anything by the time that I can create another chapter, then I will just name her Ammy.**

**The dog might come in handy later on, and then you have the motorcycle, and the plan with the whole, 'Yu had a girlfriend before Inaba thing.' I think that this story is really starting to differ from the thing that it was based on, and mostly turned into a lazy retelling of.**


	27. Rise Has Thou Been Officially Saved

**I got someone to tell me what I should name the dog.**

**Also, don't ask why I decided to name the fox. I figured that the dog should call him something other than fox, right?**

**So anyway, now that I'm Persona Q'd out for a while, I'll be trying to do these on the side, along with my overdue science project.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 27<p>

(8th) (Friday)

On the way to school, Yu decided that it was time to name the puppy that was currently walking beside him. He looked over at her and said, "Hey, it's time to give you that name I promised, huh?"

Said puppy looked at him happily, starting to run around, yipping, "Yay, I get a name, I get a name!" She started to repeat the words until Yu told her to quite down, otherwise someone might start yelling to shut her up.

"Alright then, what do you think of 'Meinu'?" He suggested.

The dog tilted her head to the side, blinking in confusion. "What's that mean?" She asked.

"Well, in my language, Japanese, it means 'female dog.' It can also mean bitch, but I won't go into that." He explained.

"That sounds like a backhanded compliment." The puppy said, obviously trying to figure out if it was worth it to have a double (insulting) meaning to her new name.

"I highly doubt that anyone will believe that I'm calling you 'bitch' when I call out to you." Yu replied.

The dog smiled in a dogish way. "Alright then, I like it. I have a name now! Meinu!" Meinu started to howl out her name until Yu lightly thunked her on the head.

"I don't have a problem with you being happy, but you have to quite down a little. We're at the school now, so I have to go, but why don't you go tell the fox at the shrine?"

"Do you mean Kuni?" Meinu asked.

"You're talking about the fox that lives by the shrine right? I didn't know Kuni was his name."

"Well, he doesn't have a real name, that's just what I call him. He calls me Chibi because I'm still a pup." Meinu explained to the confused boy.

"Well, run over there and yell at him to stop calling you small then." Yu jokingly demanded, with Meinu running off to tell the fox, apparently called Kuni, that she now has a name.

(After spending an hour or so with Unten-shi)

Yu rode to Okina City, intending to shop so. He bought a couple books, and then went to the Croco Fur place, buying some rather neat looking costumes for the hell of it.

Back in Inaba, he went straight to Daidara's to drop off the materials that he forgot about. He decided that if the TV kidnappings were going to persist, then they would need better armor.

Inside the shop, it seems that Daidara was staring at a fly that was buzzing around him, but he was too lazy to swat it out of the air. When Yu opened the door, the fly shot out to the sunlight. "Thanks for letting that fly out of the shop, Yu-kun. It was bugging me. Got any new materials for me?"

Yu smirked and pulled out a small pouch containing the materials. Daidara quickly grabbed the bag and looking inside, guesstimating how much the scraps were worth, throwing him 10,000 yen his way before looking through to find anything of extreme value, tossing a couple extra hundred yen to the boy when he found something.

"I can make some really neat weapons and armor with this stuff. Where do you get it?" Daidara asked him.

"It's a secret." Yu replied, not wanting to tell the man about his ears or anything that related. "Anyway, is it possible to make full-body armor, kind of like something you would see in a video game?"

Daidara didn't look up from his pouch. "Yeah, with the stuff that you bring in, I can make you some, and maybe even get it to function like a video game, where you can keep it as a wristwatch or something. Bring me it a couple of other items like this, and you can have it about than a week later."

"How much do you need for 5 people?"

"Whoa, calm down, I still need to find out what I need for one person. Just because I can make it work like a video game, doesn't make it so I can make in the same time as some digital blacksmith!" Daidara yelled at him.

"Alright, alright, just tell me what you think that you need, and I can go get it tomorrow, OK?"

"Yeah, just get me anything that you can, as much as possible, alright? If you want, I can get started on legs. If they are going to be your armor though, I should measure the size of your thighs and the like so it will be a custom fit for you."

Yu nodded, and Daidara took over a measurer, and after a good five minutes, the metalsmith guessed that he could accurately make the legs. He sent Yu home so that he wouldn't bug him at all.

* * *

><p>(Down at the hospital…)<p>

Yu was cleaning dutifully, about to move on to the next section of windows when he saw Sayoko talking to a doctor. The doctor spotted him and called him over. "I'm sorry young man, but do you mind taking this woman to the-"

He didn't get to finish, as Sayoko cut him off. "I'm perfectly fine."

"But you're awfully pale, and-" He stopped for a second, before changing his tactics, or was he just switching the subject as a whole? "You know, you've gain quite a reputation around here recently. I'm not the only one who would like to see you go back to the easy-going Sayo-chan that we all know and love."

"I have work to do. If you will excuse me." Sayoko pushed her way past the doctor, stopping by Yu, saying, "Please don't tell me that you're slacking off as well as the rest of my co-workers." She sighed. "I'm aware that I'm not getting anywhere." With that having been said, she walked past Yu, and resumed her duties.

Yu wasn't sure what to do, but he had a good idea that the next time he came over, he would be facing a passed out young nurse.

* * *

><p>(9th) (Saturday)<p>

Yu decided to hang with Kanji some until he had to go see Unten-shi.

"Morning Kanji, how's it going with the little boy that wanted you to make all of those dolls and the like for his mother and everyone?" Yu called out to the teen that sat by the riverbank.

Kanji looked over at him. "That was a bit long. Why didn't you just ask how I'm doing making the dolls?"

"I figured that I would screw with you and see how you would react." He replied.

Kanji sighed. "Right, anyway, it's going pretty good. The boy keeps giving me more jobs for his teacher, mom, father, you know, the adults that think that a professional is giving him them for free or something. It's starting to get on my nerves a little."

Yu patted Kanji back. "Ah, hang in there. You aren't staying up all night making them, so just sleep away some of that pain. It won't come back to bite you, I'm pretty sure of that."

"Hey," A voice called out. Yu and Kanji turned to see the newcomer, finding the boy that Kanji was helping out. "I saw you, so I figured that I'd stop and say hi."

"Good timing kid. I was just about to go find you. I have those requests finished up." Out of nowhere, he pulled out a bunch of elaborate stuffed animals, with just as much attention to detail as the first two that Yu saw Kanji make.

"I want to learn how to make these! Can you teach me?!" The boy asked, excitement in his eyes.

"If you are going to teach him, you have to teach me something too." Yu piped up.

Kanji turned a bright red as he muttered, "I'm not sure about that. I ain't good at teaching."

"Your teaching skills can't be worse than your word choice." Yu informed him.

Kanji got mad. "What's wrong with my word choice?!" He yelled in a rage.

"Believe it or not, 'ain't' is a word. Nor is 'gonna.'" Yu said, turning to the boy. "Try to remember that, kid, you don't want to be like this guy, who has the language skills of a ten year old, despite being a freshman in high school."

"Alright, I will. Now I'm going to show this to mom!" He gathered the animals in his arms and ran off.

"You know, I think that I'm starting to get over what my Shadow was saying, about how I loved girly things. I think that I'm starting to get used to the fact that it's true." Kanji said, staring at the water rushing by his feet.

"It takes a lot of courage to accept what a Shadow accuses you of. You couldn't back then, but I think that you could now, no problem." Yu said, watching the water as well. He saw on his phone that it was time to go. "Crap, got to run. See you later!" He hopped onto the scooter that he had ridden to the river, heading to Unten-shi's place.

* * *

><p>(After Yu got home…)<p>

"And now for the weather." The TV droned on. "The week has ended in a rather dreary way, and in the Inaba region, it's expected to rain throughout the night, stopping around midnight, then a thick fog is expected to blanket the area."

"Great, just what we need. More people with ears that appear after the fog." Yu groaned to himself as he ate his dinner, while watching the news.

After cleaning off his plate and washing it off, he pulled out his phone, group messaging everyone so that they would talk to Rise when she came to the school, preferably at lunch, and after that was settled, then they would go to the TV world to grind for materials.

He sat there and stared at the unplugged TV in his room for at least half an hour until the Midnight Channel was about to come on. Rie was bugging him though, and he didn't want her to find out about the channel and everything that related to it. So he stared at the screen, ignoring her the best that he could, while she was telling him a supposedly hilarious story that happened to one of Nanako's classmates.

"And so the girl that I was floating closest to said the funniest thing…" Rie talked, and talked, and talked, until Yu finally cut her off.

"Rie, I need to get to sleep. Please, exit the room peacefully, and I won't force you out with superhuman strength." He grinned at her, and watched as she left. He sighed once she floated through the door. "That girl is a real handful. Glad she disappears for days on end sometimes."

He turned back to the TV screen. It was 30 seconds until the Dark Ho- I mean the Midnight Channel came on. He counted the seconds, and then the screen lit up, completely blank, no sign of anyone on it.

Yu rolled his eyes. 'Why do I bother watching it on the foggy nights again?' He sighed. His mission was accomplished, why worry about the details?

He heard a knock on the door. "You're still up, aren't you?" Rie's voice called through the door.

'Shit!' Yu thought as he crawled onto his futon. "Um, I was trying to fall asleep, but you just woke me back up. Good job, don't you sleep, or at least have some ghostly form of sleep? When are you leaving this house anyway?!" Talk about a bit of a panic attack.

"I told you, I'm leaving at least around the end of the year. It isn't even summer yet. Calm down, I'll leave, but don't be so rude, will you?" Now Rie's the mature one!?

* * *

><p><strong>If anyone has taken notice, I kind of forget that Rie is a personghost/character in this story, and I really need to stop that. She isn't going to be the one to kill Izanami or anything, but I still have to remember that she is there, at least so that way that one day chapter that I made to introduce her wouldn't be a complete waste. And so that I can get rid of her around New Years, unless I decide that it would be funny for her to crash the date.**

**Anyway, I'm currently trying to juggle this, playing a little Persona Q on the side (I've hardly had it for a week now, and I'm already at the third labyrinth, and the fourth floor.) and doing an overdue science project that will fail me for the semester if I don't turn it in, but if I do, I have a likely chance of getting an A in the class. It's a little screwed up, isn't it? **


	28. Teddie's New Look

**You know, something always bugged me about the day that Rise recovered. When you get to Junes, you're wearing your casual clothes, but upon arriving at the TV, you're in your school clothes, then you later go back to change AGAIN after you decide to not enter the TV for any reason. What the hell was the initial change for? They were only going to yell at Teddie, right?**

** Anyway, one of the first things that I did when I got home, as I'm now on break, was boot up the computer, intent of finishing the next chapter. Didn't get to finish it Friday though. Now it's Saturday, and I think that this chapter was good enough considering the wait.**

**Also, something random was that they majority of the time spent making this was spent listening to Passion (AKA My Sanctuary) from Kingdom Hearts 2. Great motivator actually. **

* * *

><p>Chapter 28<p>

(10th) (Sunday)

Ah, the weekend. What will Yu Narukami do today? A quick flip through the notebook revealed that Kanji… No, wait. The old lady should be in her normal spot this fine day, and Yu had every intention of taking advantage of it.

As he began to make his way to the old lady's side, his phone rang. Looking at the screen, it proclaimed the caller was registered in his contacts. He hardly remembered the person though. It called her, 'Junko Enoshima.'

Though he was confused, he figured that if the girl was in his contacts, he knew her, and therefore shouldn't reject the call. He flipped open the phone and put it to his ear, muttering, "Hello?"

A squeaky, slightly familiar, voice screeched from the other end, "Yu-kun, you picked up!"

Yu moved the phone away from his ear slightly at the high pitch that came from the speakers. "Yeah, why wouldn't I? You're registered into my contacts after all. I have no valid reason to reject you."

Yu could practically see the girl pout on the other side as her voice immediately lost all enthusiasm. "Yeah, but you don't remember me, do you?"

Yu opened his mouth, but closed it after a second as he didn't want to say he did. "I'm sorry. I don't remember you. Not a surprise that I wouldn't remember one girl from the multitude that I've met."

"You forgot your girlfriend?!" Junko screeched in a rage, causing Yu to wince in pain at the sudden noise against his left ear.

Suddenly, Yu remembered the girl. Why she hadn't been deleted from his contacts was a mystery. After he moved from the school that he had been at those years ago, a girl that he had stupidly given his phone number to texted him obnoxiously. She had proclaimed to everyone a couple weeks before he had to leave that he was her girlfriend, and he foolishly decided to humor her for the hell of it. They traded phone numbers, and Yu made sure to never go beyond hugs and kisses on the cheek. She had gone a little stir-crazy when he had to leave though. She never stopped bugging him until Yu specifically texted her that he wasn't coming back to that school, for the strange reason that his parents never sent him back to the same school twice. After that, she stopped communicating with him. Why was she calling him now?

He heard Junko huff. "I'm sorry. I haven't heard from you in about a year now, so it's understandable that I would forget about you. I've forgotten about a lot of people."

"Fine, but don't forget about me again, got it?!" Junko sighed. "Listen, after you left, I got myself another boyfriend, as you might expect. He just broke up with me though! So I need someone to talk to until I get over it."

Doesn't this girl have any friends? And why him? Rather that voice these questions, for fear of being rude, he said, "Alright then, fair enough. How have you been, besides the whole breaking up thing?"

"Oh, pretty good," Junko replied. "Where are you now? Who has been unfortunately stuck watching you this time?"

"What do you mean 'unfortunately'?! My uncle hasn't been 'stuck watching me'!" Yu said, slightly annoyed at her choice of words.

"Oh, so it's your uncle then. Where does he, and therefore you, live?" Junko asked, ignoring Yu's annoyance.

Yu sighed at her disregard. "I'm down in Yasoinaba until next spring. It was a little strange coming to the country after living in the city for a while, but it's actually really nice over here."

Before Junko could say or ask anything more, Yu's phone beeped, indicating that someone else was attempting to reach him. "Crap, I'll talk to you later, something's happening today, and I need to get to it. Bye." He hung up before Junko could say anymore. He didn't want to talk to her really.

He pressed the talk button again, and Chie started talking. "Hey, where are you? Rise's up and about again, so we figured that we should talk to her and introduce her to Teddie. Properly this time."

"Right, sorry. An old 'friend' called me up, and she wouldn't stop yammering," Yu apologized. "I'll be there in a couple minutes, at our table, right? Actually, why am I asking?" Yu hung up before Chie could get a word in. He was probably shouldn't have though, that was the second person he cut off in a couple minutes.

He sighed. There went his plans to hang with the old lady. He could practically see it falling out of the window with a look of disappointment written on its face.

* * *

><p>(At Junes…)<p>

The gang was there already, and Rise was sitting in the spot that they had always left unoccupied. Said idol called out to him as he approached, seemingly happy to see him, though she hardly knew him. When he got near, she slapped him.

"What the hell was that for?!" He questioned, lightly rubbing his hurt cheek.

"I have ears!" Rise hissed, pointing to the hat atop her head, clearly pissed off.

Yu snorted. "I believe that it's perfectly normal for you to have ears. Call me if they suddenly disappear. Then I'll be concerned."

"You know what I mean!" Rise shrieked, irritated. "Do you know how much I freaked when I woke up and found them? My grandma came in the room a minute later and saw them and almost called the hospital to have them surgical removed! If I ever decide to go back to showbiz… Well, I can't!"

"You think that any of us asked for these things? I'm not fond of them either, but guess what!? Too bad, you're stuck with them whether you like it or not." Yu took a deep breath. "Alright, here's the thing…"

The group explained what happened to Rise, up until her rescue.

"OK, so why was I dragged into this then?" Rise asked.

"I thought that we mentioned that," Yosuke muttered. "OK, we figure that it has to do with the people that are thrown in appear on TV, and are in the Inaba area. That's what causes them to be on the Midnight Channel."

"Oh, I don't quite understand, but it does make sense that the kidnapper would only want to do it when it's in his/her local area." Everyone nodded at the logic. "So where's the bear that was there while you were fighting to save me?"

Everyone except Rise got up from their seats. "Come with us, and we will show you." Yukiko said. Rise got up and they walked to the electronics department.

At said department, some employees were standing in front of the TV. They turned to look at the teens upon their approach. "Hey Yosuke-kun," The male employee said. "Do you know why there's a boy in a bear costume wandering around the store? When I asked, he didn't quite give me a straight answer, though he did mention knowing you. Did your father hire him?"

"Oh crap," Yosuke whispered. "Uh, yeah, dad was thinking that maybe he could help entertain the kids while their parents shop, so he's here for a, uh, test run of sorts. We probably should have told you that he would be here today." Yosuke nervously put his hands behind his head, trying to seem casual as he laughed uneasily, probably about ready to murder the bear on the inside.

"Oh, OK then, if that's the case, I guess I shouldn't question it. If he's going to stay though, I want to know. If you want to find him, he's over by the massage chairs." The male employee said, walking away to resume his duties with the female worker that he had been talking to following close behind.

Yosuke sighed. "Really, Teddie? Why would he exit the TV world? He didn't know what it's on the other side 'til now."

The group walked over to the massage chairs, and there was Teddie, just like the employee had told them. He was relaxing on one of them, his eyes closed and a look of content on his face.

"Teddie, what are you doing in the real world?" Yu asked.

Teddie's eyes popped open. "Oh, Sensei-knight, morning. I was bored, and I believe that it's summer over here, so we won't have to worry about anyone getting thrown in. At least, we won't have to worry about them dying. So I can here to check out your world. I have to say that it's quite nice."

Yosuke groaned. "Please don't tell me that you're planning on staying on this side…"

"Well, I just might. I have nothing better to do. I've trained the best that I can in the TV world, and I'm as strong as can be, so now I can join you guys on your other-worldly adventures!" Teddie replied.

"You already do though…" Chie muttered. "How about you get a human body, and then you can join us on our 'worldly' adventures."

"Yes, I can do that, totally!" Teddie yelled, clearly not catching the fact that Chie was kidding about getting a human body.

"OK, let's move this to our table by the food court. People are starting to stare." Yosuke said, leading the way to the food court with the rest of the gang in tow.

At the table, Teddie was literally sweating. How that made any sense is beyond anyone's comprehension. "It's too hot in here!" He complained.

"Dude, it's 55 degrees, and you're outside!" Yosuke told the bear.

"I can't take it anyone! I have to remove this suit!" Teddie yelled, and reached for the zipper that was somehow keeping his head on.

"No, there are people around here! Think of the children!" Yosuke hissed. "You can't go around showing them that you're a bear costume that doesn't have a person inside!"

"I'm not empty though!" Teddie yelled, successfully pulling off his head.

What happened the moment the head come off probably scarred a lot of people. The bulky body that had curved to match the perimeter of the wide top deflated. A human head, as well as a bare chest, popped out of the deflated suit, with the looks that matched the pretty boy in a movie that centered on a school. The boy shook his head a little and small sweat beads went flying. He opened his eyes, showing pretty, strikingly blue eyes. He picked up a water bottle and drank wholeheartedly while everyone around him stared in shock.

"Ah, that's much better." The boy spoke, putting down his water bottle; his voice sounding a lot like Teddie's only, older, perhaps? If anything, it was less squeaky. It was also a lot smoother than the other voice. He turned his attention to the girls. "Hey, Chie-chan, Yuki-chan, Rise-chan… can you help me out? I'm basically a newborn here."

All of the girls immediately turned a bright shade of red as it hit them what he meant by 'newborn.' "Wait, you took off your head, but you didn't bother to grab some clothes? Did you know that you wouldn't have anything on?" Rise asked.

"The thought didn't really occur to me until now." Teddie said. "But really, do you mind helping me find some clothes? As far as I can tell, it's not exactly a good thing to be wandering around this world in your birthday suit."

The girls got up, forcing the bear costume head back over the human body, with the deflated body re-flating in an instant. "Well, at least he knew not to remove his bottom." Yukiko commented.

"We'll take care of getting him dressed. You guys go have fun." Rise said, starting to push Teddie in the direction of the clothing section.

"You want one of us guys to come with you?" Kanji asked. "Won't it be weird trying to show a guy how to dress? I mean, you will have to show him how to put everything on. What about his bottom?"

The girls stopped, thinking. They huddled up and whispered to each other for a minute, pushing Teddie away any time that he tried to listen in. Finally, they un-huddled, and Yukiko said, "Alright, Kanji, you suggested it, so you get to come and dress his bottom half!"

Kanji shot out of his seat, about to yell at the girls, but he sighed and grabbed Teddie's wrist roughly, walking away with the girls following when he realized that he did in fact suggest it, and therefore should be the man to do the job.

Yu and Yosuke decided that it was probably best to just go get some topsicles while they waited. They ate their topsicles, and suddenly something hit Yu. "He didn't have ears."

Yosuke turned his head, and looked at his Alpha. "Um, and what does that mean?"

"Teddie has a Persona, and accepted his Shadow, but he didn't have any ears." Yu explained. "At least, none that we know of. If he does have them though, we didn't see them, and that probably means that we too can hide them without our hats!"

Yosuke grew excited. "Are you serious!? My parents have been wondering why I wear my hat all the time, so if that theory is true, then… yes, I don't have to feel like I'm lying to them! I wonder where they are though; it's been a long time now."

Then in the distance, the girls, Kanji, and Teddie appeared. In a minute, they were standing all together, and the two boys saw Teddie's new look. Black jeans and a white shirt with a red rose. Classy. Kanji groaned. "He wanted his human image to match the king that he seems to believe that he is. So here he is, the new Teddie."

Teddie waved happily at the two, who waved awkwardly back. "Hey Teddie, shouldn't you have ears?" Yosuke asked, looking at his blond hair that naturally held itself to one side.

"Well, yes I do." Teddie replied, and his ears popped out for a minute. They were a pretty white color with some purple mixed in, just a drop. They disappeared when Kanji told him to put them away. "I thought that I couldn't hide them at first, but with some hard work and determination, I managed it."

"Please teach me how to do that!" Yosuke begged; a pleading look in his eyes.

"Ok, but you have to allow me to stay at your house. I don't want to live in the TV anymore." Teddie negotiated.

"Ok, fine, I'll work it out with my parents later. You'd better hold up on your end of the deal though!" Yosuke yelled. He turned to the girls and Kanji. "How did you pay for these clothes? This combination is quite expensive, even with Junes' prices, and I'm sure that you took advantage of my employee discount."

"Well, Yukiko got a discount for some reason, something about helping out the store, and being a part of the Amagi Inn, and by that point there was still 2,000 still to be paid for, so we kind of put it on you. I'll help pay it off, but I kind of don't have any money right now, so that's why." Chie told him.

Yosuke looked shocked as he hung his head in sadness. "Great, that's going to come out of my paycheck later. And I'm still trying to get the money to pay off getting a new motorcycle since Hanako broke my other one!"

Yu pulled out his wallet. Looking into it, there was a small pouch where Yu had set aside his money for the motorcycle, and then there was the main pouch. He pulled out a small wad of money, about 1,500 yen, from the main pouch and handed it to Yosuke. "I don't need this much money. I'm sure you could stand to lose about 500 yen."

Yosuke snatched up the money. "Thanks Alpha. I'll have Chie pay for the rest of it."

Chie sighed, knowing that she probably deserved it. "Fine. How about we go get some materials from the Shadows so I can sell them to Daidara then. I can pay it off like that."

"Oh, yeah. I'm having Daidara make me some cool full-body armor, and he needs more materials from the TV world. I think that we should do that then." Yu said.

"Full-body armor?" Yosuke questioned. "Can we get some too?"

"Well, he needs to know how to make one to make more, so we have to complete mine first." Yu told the gang. "Let's go get some Shadow droppings then."

"When you say it like that, it sounds kind of disgusting." Chie commented. "I mean, 'droppings?'"

"Let's just pretend that I didn't say that and just go then." Yu said, and everyone quickly agreed.

* * *

><p>(Inside the TV world…)<p>

The group walked to Yukiko's castle to grind some materials. After all, Daidara just wanted some wide variety of Shadow leftovers. They also had to find out Rise's and Teddie's abilities.

The first enemy appeared and changed form from a small blob to a table. Teddie, now wearing his bear suit again, jumped forward, and looked to Rise. "All right, Rise-baby, it's time for you to show us what you can do! I know this Shadow's weakness; now let's see how long for you to find out."

"Please don't call me that." Rise groaned. "Alright, Himiko, let's do this!" Himiko appeared, and put the visor that she held over Rise's eyes. "All right then, let's see…" A minute later, Rise was done. "All right, it's a Laughing Table…" Teddie nodded, confirming her statement. "It's weak to wind, and strong to electric attacks." Teddie nodded again. "Interesting, it's holding 190 yen underneath it; I think stuck to the underside because of… gross, I think that's gum! I know that I'm supposed to know things about our enemies, but TMI!"

Yu leaned over to Yosuke, and muttered, "I wonder what sort of things she would see if she harnessed the enhanced senses that come with the ears. If she's saying TMI to gum under the table… she is not going to like this job." Yosuke snorted.

Teddie easily killed the table, and watched as the materials and money dropped from its quickly decayed body that disappeared not even two seconds after it dropped the items.

This went on for a while, the group asked Rise about an enemy, and she would tell them what it was weak too. They moved on to Kanji's area, not the least bit worn out. Rise was quizzed there, and at the top, she stopped them. "There's an enemy behind this door that is plenty stronger than the other one's in this area. Nothing you can't handle though."

They walked in, seeing a creature Rise called the 'Intolerant Officer." It held 1,000 yen and was resistant to almighty attacks, and blocked dark and light. It took a good amount of damage from ice and wind, and electricity was its weakness.

The first thing that it did was fire a bufu spell at Yukiko, knocking her down, and then it tried to hit her again, but Kanji would have none of that shit and zapped it. It fell down and he hit it again, causing it to become dizzy and unable to stand.

Everyone hit it with their respective skills, and eventually, the officer got back up, but Kanji shocked it again, and the thing was dead. They had been way too overpowered for that.

Back at the studio that was the exit/entrance, Yu look at his watch. "Time to go. We can clear out the other places tomorrow. Good job Rise. That was some fine analyzing. Better than Teddie could hope to do, even before his nose snuffed up."

"I take offence to that!" Teddie yelled.

"Oh, don't feel bad Teddie. You're more of a fighter anyway." Rise said, rubbing his furry head.

"Oh fine then. I guess I won't complain. Now that I think about it, you can't be considered one of my knights, can you? Want to be my queen instead?" Teddie made puppy dog eyes at her.

"You know, at first, I thought you were sweet, if not a little stupid. Now I'm not quite sure what to think." Rise said, slightly disturbed by his upfront approach.

"Is that a yes then?" Teddie asked.

"Give me a month or so and show me how to hide my ears, and I'll think about it." Rise replied, then muttering to herself, "You only have a 0.0001% chance though."

"Ok then, I'll make you my queen, no matter what!" Teddie yelled, jumping out of the TV, while everyone watched, and Yosuke quickly following to make sure he didn't kill anyone. Everyone else exited a minute later.

Yu went to bed early that night after dropping his materials to Daidara, who had just about finished the legs, so he took Yu's top measurements, and got to work.

* * *

><p><strong>OK, well, that took way too long to make. There's something extra to (hopefully) make up for it past this AN.**

**Considering this is past 4,500 words, I think that I have made up for the fact that I haven't written this in forever.**

**But hey, I can't help it if I had a shit ton of projects dumped on me the last two weeks of school. Also, got that one science project done, and went from an I (basically an F) to an A. How fucked up is that stupid system? I am not kidding. I get that the project was important or whatever, but all of my grade almost went down the drain because of it. Well, enough ranting. Have fun reading about the untold antics of what happened with the girls while they got clothes for Teddie, with Kanji in tow.**

* * *

><p>(What happened with the girls, Kanji and Teddie while clothes shopping…)<p>

They arrived at the clothing section. Teddie looked around a little in awe, and then ran straight into the woman's section, with everyone running after him.

Teddie skillfully avoided all attempts to stop him, until Kanji finally successfully tackled him. His head flew off and landed right in front of some poor child. Said kid started to cry because of the blank stare that the costume's top was giving him. Chie picked up the head while Yukiko calmed the boy down.

Chie shoved the head back onto place, lightly kicking him so that he knew not to do that again. Teddie hung his head in shame, and then looked to Rise to something positive from her. She seemed to be slightly disturbed as she asked, "Is he always like that?"

Chie nodded. "Pretty much. Don't mind it though. If he does out of line, just give him a good kick or smack. Actually, with you, you might be able to just ask nicely and he'll sit still for a couple more minutes." Yukiko came back, having apologized to the woman that was his mother. "Now then, let's go before that boy kills something important. Like our brain cells."

At the men's side of the section, Teddie looked around while the others supervised. He pulled out some black jeans, saying, "I might want to at least get the bottom out of the way."

"That's true, but you also need some underwear." Rise told him.

"Why's that?" Teddie asked.

"I don't want to explain that. Just, get some underwear, and go with Kanji, who will make sure you don't screw anything up." Chie told him, looking at the price tag of the jeans, which was a somewhat reasonable price.

They called over an employee. "Um, this boy for some stupid reason is naked under that costume. I hope you don't mind, but I don't think that we have enough money to pay for a whole outfit, plus underwear, so do you mind if we put it on Yosuke's account, whatever we can't pay for ourselves?" Yukiko asked.

The employee seemed disturbed. "Sure… I guess. Just make a list of what everything costs. I'm going to trust you to not lie, since you just told me that you can't pay for it all anyway." He pulled out a pen and a small notebook, handing it to her.

After a minute, Teddie came out of the changing room, wearing the jeans and holding his costume's head under his arm. Kanji walked out holding the bottom half.

"All right, go get yourself a top now." Kanji told Teddie, who shoved his head in Kanji's hands before skipping merrily away.

"He looks real strange with only some jeans on." Rise commented; looking at Teddie's bare back as he skipped around the section, looking through the shirts.

"He just looks strange, period." Yukiko said.

"I think it goes beyond his looks. " Chie remarked as Teddie held up a white dress shirt, dancing around a little before putting it on; requiring Kanji's help with the buttons. When it was all buttoned up, Teddie complained that it was too tight around the neck, so he loosened it a couple buttons until you could see a small chunk of his chest.

The girls collectively sighed.

On the way to pay for the items, Teddie stopped to look at something. The rest of the gang turned around to look at what he was admiring. It was a bunch of fake roses, and Teddie was clipping on onto his shirt, which really put the outfit together, so the girls didn't complain, though Kanji looked like he wanted to yell at them for just letting him be.

The total for the whole outfit rung up to at least 10,000 yen. Mostly it was the dress shirt and the rose that pushed it that far. With Yosuke's discount, and Yukiko's discount (Though it made no sense why she got one) the total dropped down to 7,000 yen, which was still quite a bit, but it was a little more bearable.

Collectively, the group didn't have nearly enough money, so 2,000 yen had to be put on Yosuke's account, which Chie already knew would not sit well with him.

And thus the group went to show the two boys who were down eating topsicles last they checked.


	29. Experimenting With The Laws Of TV Land

**Well, that's a bit of a bitch. I finished this chapter, and moved to put in the A/N and everything, but for some stupid ass reason, it wasn't letting me look at the editing things, nor what I had written at all. A couple minutes later, I try again, and this time, it works, but it decides that it wants to be cruel and not allow me to do any of the cut-off lines. So now, I think I have to copy and paste them from my word document. That might fix itself later, but I'm finishing this chapter now dammit!**

**OK, one save later, and now I have the option of a cut off line. What the hell? That wasn't there before, I swear to God!**

* * *

><p>Chapter 29<p>

(11th) (Monday)

Inside of the classroom, Yu overheard plenty of people whispering, something about how King Moron was being moved to a different class, apparently a senior class, because someone finally realized that the seniors would be the only people to put up with his shit. The group of eared people talked amongst themselves about whether or not the rumor was true.

"It seems like it would be a smart move. Sure, the seniors have to deal with another half a year with him, but they are probably the only people that wouldn't really give a shit about what he yells at them." Yosuke said.

"I've heard a couple people now say that Kashiwagi will be the one to be taking over though, which is even worse." Yukiko muttered.

"Who's Kashiwagi?" Yu asked.

"She's a grandma that's really sensitive about her age, and seems to think that she is the prettiest woman in the school. Last year, I heard that King Moron was sick one day, and Kashiwagi filled in for him. I think I actually heard the whole class groan, 'I want King Moron back!' I was a floor down too." Chie told him.

"Sounds like we're in for one hell of a ride then." Yu sighed.

The door to the room opened, and a woman who had an 'interesting' look in her eyes walked in. "Good morning class. I know that Mr. Morooka has been moved to another class, though I'm not sure if you knew, but regardless, I'm going to be taking over from now on."

The whole class collectively groaned. Kashiwagi walked over and sat down on the desk, crossing her legs.

Some of the class started whispering. "She's worse than King Moron." "Weren't they trying to give us someone bearable?" "Who thought that she was the best choice?"

"Oh, and one more thing, class," Kashiwagi spoke up, ignoring, or just not hearing, the comments. "You all know of that idol that's coming here now, Kujikawa, I believe? Well, all of you boys better give up on your fantasies now, because she is nothing like that girl that you might see on TV. What's so amazing about that girl anyway? So what, she's been on TV a couple times, what's the deal?" Kashiwagi started to rant, on and on and on… You get the point.

The class started to whisper again. "Man, what's her beef with Risette?" "I mean, she couldn't stand up to any other person that was also on the wrong side of 40." "Kashiwagi really is way too smug for her age."

"Geez," Yosuke groaned. He tapped Yu on the shoulder with his pencil. "Let's get the gang together after school to study for the finals a little and kill some Shadows, 'K?"

Yu gave him a thumbs up as a sign that it was what he was going to do.

* * *

><p>(After school…)<p>

"Ugh, finals are next week… I'm not ready for this." Chie muttered, and she lowered her head onto the table that they sat at.

"You shouldn't sweat it." Yosuke told her. "I mean, you fail so many of your subjects that it doesn't really matter if you study or not."

Chie lifted her head off the table, and reached over to smack him upside the head.

"Remember that she's gotten better recently, Yosuke." Yukiko said. "She has above average marks on the things that she doesn't fail, and she's getting close to passing with the things that she does generally screw up."

Chie's eye twitched. "Thanks Yukiko. You make me feel so good inside sometimes."

Yukiko seemed confused. "Did I say something wrong?"

"Let's just move away from the subject of Chie's grades." Yu advised.

"Good idea, don't want her to kill any of us." Kanji agreed. "Why don't we go to the TV so she can release some pent up rage?" Everyone quickly agreed.

* * *

><p>(The TV world…)<p>

Inside of the TV, Rise did a quick scan, and found a new enemy had appeared where Shadow Rise and Shadow Teddie had been fought.

They quickly traveled there, letting Rise scan some more enemies, and then they entered the room at the top of the dungeon. There stood (whatever the term may actually be for the position it was in) a giant baby with a flower growing on its head. It kind of looked like a rejected Pikmin.

"All right, it takes a good amount of damage from fire skills and is weak to bufu! Physical skills will do very little to it!" Rise yelled to the group.

"Kanji, Yosuke, looks like you're on support duty for this battle." Yu told them, and they looked little dejected. "Teddie, Chie, just spam your bufu spells. Yukiko, kill it with fire!"

That is exactly what they did, only Kanji decided that he didn't want to be purely support, and went it attempted to kill Yukiko, he caught the Shadow's fists, keeping it in place long enough for the group to land the final hits. It couldn't have taken any longer than 5 minutes to complete.

"Well, that was rather disappointing. We need a new place to fight." Chie complained. "I don't know; an arena or something where we have 50 matches against our enemies, with no breaks."

No one was very fond of her suggestion.

"I know that there isn't anything to do, but what else are we going to do here, huh?" Yu asked the group. "There has to be something to do other than kill Shadows."

"Let's run experiments!" Teddie yelled, getting everyone's attention.

"What do you mean by that?" Kanji asked.

"Something like, 'if you get wet, and you exit the world, what will happen? Will you dry off instantly?' Think about it, I don't even know about all of the laws in this world, and I lived here for the longest time."

"Speaking of which, how is it going with Teddie living with you, Yosuke?" Yu asked.

"It's been, what, a day now, and he's driving me insane." Yosuke responded.

"Are we doing it or not!?" Teddie yelled at them.

"Oh, right. Sure, why not." Everyone shrugged. They had nothing better to do now that they were in the TV.

Wandering around the world a little, the group found a nice open patch of ground.

"This should do it." Yu looked at the ground, which looked quite similar to a clearing in a forest. Calm and quiet. "All right Kanji; call out Take and dig a hole into the ground here. It doesn't have to be too deep; we just have to be able to wade in it." Kanji nodded and dug a hole in the ground. "All right, now Teddie and Chie, fill the hole with your bufu skills." He ordered, with them complying. Finally, Yukiko melted the ice with her fire.

Effectively, the result was a rather small hot tub.

"All right, Teddie was the moron to suggest it, so he's the one to test it out." Chie proclaimed, and she ripped off Teddie's bear costume and dunked him in.

He popped out and said, "That's mean, Chie-chan! Though it is quite nice in here, it's warm. I don't want to leave it now."

Rise reached over and pulled him out. He started to shiver from the sudden temperature change. "Be back in a minute guys. Come on Ted, you can climb back in if your clothes don't magically dry on the way out of the TV."

The two left, and so the people left figured that they should try something else.

"OK, what else are we going to do while we wait for them to get back?" Yu asked the remaining people.

"Um, we could always try tearing our shirts and the like, and see if they fix themselves upon leaving." Kanji suggested.

"Oh! What about if you were bleeding and you left the TV world?" Yukiko proposed.

"OK, Kanji, you suggested tears in clothing… Yukiko and blood…" Yu muttered. "Interesting, why don't you try it, both of you?"

Kanji shrugged and tore his shirt, while Yukiko lightly pricked her finger, causing it to draw a small amount of blood. They both got up and started to walk to the exit.

Now only Yu, Chie, and Yosuke where left. They sat down and waited. Suddenly Yosuke got a good idea (Though to everyone else it was bad.) "Hey, I know what we can talk about while we wait!"

"I fear what you're going to say." Chie muttered.

"Oh, don't say that." Yosuke lightly punched her arm. "If you don't want to have any part of it, don't. I won't force you too." He turned to Yu. "So Alpha, after a couple months, and some new members of the group, has your opinion changed on who you like?"

Yu scowled. "I never directly stated who."

"I'm going to take that as a 'no change.'" Yosuke said with a smirk.

"OK then, what about you?" Yu asked Yosuke. "Would you still take-" Yosuke covered his mouth.

"Don't you dare say anything." He hissed.

Yu laughed as he removed Yosuke's hand from covering his mouth. "You don't say anything about that conversation we had that day ever again, and I won't say a thing." Yosuke sighed, but nodded. Chie was giving them a really weird look, seeming to become interested in the conversation.

They all turned around at the sound of footsteps. There stood Rise and Teddie. Teddie was dry, and it looked like he was never pushed into the water to begin with. "Test #1 is a success!" Teddie yelled happily.

"We passed by the Yukiko and Kanji on the way back. Why was Yukiko's finger bleeding and Kanji's shirt ripped?" Rise asked.

"Well, Kanji wanted to know if torn clothes would be fixed upon exiting the TV, and Yukiko wanted to know if a bleeding wound would close when you exited." Chie explained.

The two nodded and sat down with the others. "So what were you guys talking about before we came?" Teddie asked.

"Oh, we were talking about a conversation that Alpha and I had after watching the Midnight Channel-" Yosuke stopped after seeing Yu glare at him. "Though I did just promise him that I wouldn't speak of it again."

"Alright then, let's talk about love interests instead!" Rise yelled. Yu looked at Rise with hatred, though she didn't see it. "Chie, of the guys in our group, who would you pick to be your boyfriend?"

"Wait, what?!" Chie yelled in a sudden panic as her mind cycled through the men in the group. "I can't stand Teddie, and Kanji's kind of frightening. I can't say. Think there will be any more men joining us?"

"What about us!?" Yosuke asked her.

"I'm not going to say anything about that." Chie replied.

Teddie randomly pulled out a notebook. "Ok, Chie is undecided between Sensei-knight, and Yosuke-knight." He muttered to himself as he wrote it down. Everyone figured it was best to not question what he planned to do with the fact that Chie didn't know who she would date.

Rise turned her attention to Yosuke. "What about you Yosuke-kun?"

"Um," Yosuke started to stutter until Yu hit him in the back of the head. "Well, not Yukiko, possibly you Rise…" He trailed off.

Teddie started to write again. "Possibly Rise or Chie…"

"I never said anything about Chie." Yosuke informed him.

"Then what do you think about me?" Chie asked him.

Yu was silently laughing on the inside as Yosuke tried to answer in the most confusing way possible. "Well, I've spent so much time with you now that you couldn't be ruled out, but… Um, can I not answer this?"

"Let's give him a minute for him to collect his thoughts." Yu advised. Yosuke shot him a grateful glance as the heat was moved to the next target.

And that target was Yu himself. "Alright then, what about you, Yu-kun?" Rise asked.

'Shit, what was I thinking?' Yu thought to himself. "Um, not Yukiko, and not Chie… I don't know Rise good enough to pass judgment on it…" He was more or less muttering to himself by the end of it.

Yosuke was laughing at him. "I know who it would be!" He sang to the poor teen.

Yu looked to be about ready to choke his Beta. "I told you to keep quiet, else I tell about yours."

Yosuke shut up immediately. Rise clapped her hands together. "Oh, so you know about each other's interests, do you? Spill it!"

"No way, this conversation is over!" Yosuke and Yu yelled simultaneously.

Yukiko and Kanji just so happened to return at that particular moment. Rise decided to bug them instead. "So, who of the team would you date Kanji?"

"Excuse me?" Kanji asked, now wondering what kind of death trap he just walked into.

"Just answer the question Kanji. Who would you date?" Rise pried.

Kanji looked confused, but he started to mutter, "Well, I don't know. Um, not you Rise, you're a bit pushy too me." Rise looked at him like she was hurt by his words. "I don't really know!"

Before Kanji lost his mind at the randomness of what he just walked into, Rise decided to go after Yukiko. "What about you, Yukiko?"

Yukiko seemed disturbed, saying, "I think that I will choose not to answer that…"

Yu suddenly piped up. "What about you Rise? And Teddie as well."

Rise turned to him. "Well, you of course silly." She moved over to him, hugging him. "I'm going to pry it out of Yosuke who you like, you know." She whispered to him.

"And if you do that, I will kill you both." Yu threatened.

"I want you, Rise-queen!" Teddie yelled, jumping forward and hugged Rise, who was still clinging to Yu, knocking them all over.

Yu pushed them off, and turned to Kanji and Yukiko, who both looked extremely uncomfortable at what was happening. "So did your tests go well?"

The two looked at him, and nodded. "Yeah, my shirt looks like I never tore it, and Yukiko's blood was all cleaned up, and the wound was healed too." Kanji informed him.

Yu nodded. "Looks like the only test that we still have to do is find out if blood on our clothes disappears too. At this rate, it will though." He got up, looking at his watch. "Guys, we need to stop fooling around. Time to go." He started to walk away, with everyone else quickly getting up and running after him.

At the entrance/exit, Yu lightly cut his finger, rubbing the blood off on his shirt.

After landing on the ground of Junes, Yu looked down at his shirt, to find that the blood had been wiped clean. That's going to be helpful later.

* * *

><p>(Back at the Dojima's…)<p>

During dinner, Yu got a text. Looking at it, it was from Yosuke, saying, "Dude, Dumminatior 2 is finally out! Want to go see it later with me?"

Yu texted back the following message… "You just want me to pay for you, don't you?"

A couple minutes later came the reply. "Yeah, that would be nice."

He rolled his eyes, replying, "I'll think about it."

"Thank You! Man, I can't wait!" Was the response.

* * *

><p><strong>I don't know why I wanted to do most of this chapter the way I did, but I was always curious as to how the laws of the TV world worked, and thus, what would happen if one of the team was injured, and got blood on their clothes. Or what would happen if one of them was frozen, and then thawed off, but was still wet as to be expected. <strong>

**That would make for an interesting conversation with your parents...**

**"Honey, why are you all wet?"**

**"Oh, I, uh, fell in the river."**

**"How did you fall in?"**

**"Listen, um, it's late, so, I'm just going to go to bed... tell you later." **


	30. Addressing The On-Rail Social Links

**All right then! #30! Never thought that I would get this far.**

**Anyway, addressing the rather strange on-rails Social Link in this episode. Most of the time making this was spent around Shu's birthday related Link. I don't even know why.**

**Anyway, this chapter turned out a decent length, so that's nice.**

**Have fun, people all over the US and beyond (Because I know that a couple people other countries read this, and there are others that are down in Massachusetts.)**

* * *

><p>Chapter 30<p>

(12th) (Tuesday)

The lecture that the class just got from Kashiwagi was very strange. Something about male cats that are only born ever thousand years or some really random crap that Yu really didn't want to remember. Maybe it was really something about one male born out of every thousand. Every couple hundred years would be a bit extreme.

Anyway, away from that subject, Yu realized that he never did anything about Margaret's Social Link that he happened to forge with her one day, a long time ago. So he ran to the Velvet Room, and asked her what she wanted. She lightly snorted at his forgetfulness, but told him nevertheless that she wanted to see Ippon-datara with Sukukaja. Yu quickly got the necessary Personas and fused it. Margaret smiled and gave him the next one, Matador with Mahama. Again, he quickly fused it. This went on for quite some time, or lack of because no real time passes in the Velvet Room, but finally, he had to stop at Request #8, because that shit got a little ridiculous to make.

Before he left, Yu also decided to complain to Igor about a problem he had. "Hey Igor," He called out.

Igor looked at him rather blankly. "What is it, young guest?"

"Why do my Social Links feel so… on-rails, I guess?" Yu asked him.

Igor sighed. "Got that complaint from my other guest as well. Anyway, for the minor Arcana holders, you have to admit that it makes some sense. Just be glad that I removed the hang-outs in between the rank-up events."

Yu nodded. "Yeah, I can live with the minor Arcana holders, but it's a little strange that I feel forced to hang out with my teammates. Can I not?"

Margaret stared at him. "You're already knee-deep in Kanji's Link though. Stopping it would be a little strange, and difficult for that matter."

"Fine, fine, I can deal with that, but for Rise's Link and any other major Arcana holder, can it just be more difficult to tell that I'm practically being forced to spend time with them for whatever reward I'll happen to get for doing all of this?" Yu requested.

"I think that we can manage that." Margaret said. "And as a bonus, once we get Adachi's Link working again, it will also be automatic as time passes and things happen."

"What happened to cause it to momentarily break anyway?" Yu asked curiously.

Margaret smiled as she pointed at Marie. "Young, bored Marie was playing with my Persona Compendium while I was out that day fixing one of the tires on the limo. I heard a loud snap and rushed back, only to find that Marie had ripped Adachi's page. It's a major pain to fix it, so it will be a while until it is fixed. Though because it is torn, strange things may happen upon its fix, and I think that there may be a chance of it becoming a whole new Arcana."

Yu shrugged. "So long as it starts working again, and you never leave Marie alone with your Compendium again, I'm fine with it." He heard Marie huff in annoyance.

* * *

><p>(13th) (Wednesday)<p>

Well, the PE teacher decided to ask him a near impossible question. He knew the answer, but how the hell do you say 'sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia'!? Just asking.

Anyways… Yu decided to hang out with Kanji today. They were just about to go somewhere to have some good ol' meat, but then two dumbass officers showed up.

"Hey, Tatsumi. We need to have a word with you." One of them said.

Kanji turned to face them. "Is that so? Well, I sure as hell wouldn't."

The officers didn't seem happy. "Come with us." One of them demanded.

Yu stepped forward. "What's your probable cause?" He asked, now quite glad that he had taken a couple 'You & The Law' type classes. "You need one, don't you? Otherwise you can't use anything you gain from this against him. I have a good feeling that you're trying to accuse him of something."

The cops smirked. "Oh, so you're in cahoots with him, are ya? Well, we got a tip at someone has been out bullying a young child, and Tatsumi here meets the description."

"I was with him any time that he was with a young child around the floodplains and hill. He was being kind and making-" He was cut off.

"Don't tell them that! It's embarrassing." Kanji yelled.

Yu put a hand on Kanji's shoulder. "Kanji-kun, do you want your Shadow to stay the same forever?"

"I don't want to have a Shadow at all, dammit!" Kanji yelled at him. "F-fine then."

"Alright, sorry, he hates this." Yu turned to the officers. "You see, this young boy was being taunted about a stuffed rabbit that he was borrowing, so he threw it into the river, and it was swept away, so Kanji made him a new one, and a bunch of other stuff at his request."

The officers looked dumbfounded. "So, you weren't bullying the kid?"

"That's what he just said, dammit!" Kanji yelled. "Now scram!"

"We're sorry. Please, excuse us." The two officers turned around and swiftly left.

"Morons," Yu muttered. "At the very least, they had a probable cause, but still, look into that shit a little."

The two boys parted ways before any more chaos could ensue.

* * *

><p>(At the hospital)<p>

Just as he expected, Yu was cleaning as normal, and then a nurse came and forced him out. He came back in to find that Sayoko was lying on the bed. He sighed. "Overworked yourself?" He asked.

"No, I was just a little wobbly. They just want to get rid of me because I'm trying to get work done. I'm just lucky that they didn't stick an IV in me." She got up out of the bed.

"You can't help anyone in the state you're in." Yu told her.

"Why are you acting like you know my limits?" Sayoko was quite angry, but she calmed down after a second. "I mean, if I don't go out there, someone might die."

"But if you do, you might die, and then let's see how many more will be lost when you do." Yu shot back. "All you're doing is running away from your pain, and you're slowly killing yourself as a result."

Sayoko hung her head. "Yeah, I am, aren't I?" Her eyes widened. "Oh God, I am!" She climbed back onto the bed. "I'm going to rest a little longer. You can go now. You've done a good enough job for today."

Yu nodded and left the room without another word.

* * *

><p>(14th) (Thursday)<p>

Today, Yu went to find Kou. Why? Well, not to have an awkward conversation about why he hadn't come to practice in forever, but that was certainly what he was going to get.

"Hey Kou!" He called out as he approached.

"Hey there man. Where have you been? You haven't been to practice in forever." Kou replied.

Yu pulled out his notebook, showing him the list of people that he had Social Links with. "I'm sorry. I have a lot of friends that I've made recently, and I don't seem to have the time anymore."

Kou flipped through the semi-organized book. "Hm, what's up with the 'ranks'?"

Yu grabbed the notebook back. "Um, that doesn't really matter. It's, um, how I keep track of my time with everyone."

"Right, and that's why I'm 'MAX,' because you have more people to talk to, and we have a bond that can't break, right?" Yu nodded. "OK, so what do you need?"

"I'm wondering about what kind of girl is your type." He asked straight up.

"Which of your lady friends is looking to have a boyfriend?" Kou asked him, instantly getting where he was going with this. "I know that you talk to Chie-chan, Yukiko-chan, Rise-chan, I think that I've seen you with that one girl from the band, our manager, and that Naoto chick. Speaking of which, I saw all of them in your notebook except that last one. She was the first one that you really interacted with in Inaba though, right?"

"She's a part-time detective, so she doesn't have the time to screw around with a random high schooler. So tell me, what type of girl?"

Kou looked around, and though no one was around, he leaned over and whispered, "I like Chie-chan's type, OK? I don't know, she's nice, alright?"

"Ok, so you like nice girls, right?" Yu confirmed. Kou nodded. "Alrighty then, thank you."

"Put a good word in for me with Chie-chan, OK?" Kou requested.

"Should the topic come up, I'll be sure to sneak a few good words in for you." Yu told him, walking away, finding Ai at the rooftop, the person that he wanted to talk to this lovely afternoon.

She turned around as he sat down on the metal pole supporting the solar panel. "So you certainly took your time." She growled. "Whatever, did you find out about Kou's type?"

"He likes girls that come off to him as 'nice.'" Yu informed her.

"N-nice? He doesn't think I'm nice?" Ai asked.

"Well, let's be honest here, you were a little rude when you had to introduce yourself." Yu said.

"Did he once mention anything about cute or, or beautiful?" Yu shook his head, and Ai looked like she was about to have a panic attack. "B-but every guy wants to be with a beautiful woman! Aren't the good-looking girls the ones that find love?! Alright, that's it; go ask him if he has a crush on anyone!" She demanded.

Yu scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, funny thing, I think that came up as well. He said, and I quote, 'I like Chie-chan's type, OK?'"

Ai looked dumbstruck. "Satonaka? That Chie? How could she be the one that Kou likes!?" Before he knew it, Ai was halfway up the fence that kept kids from regularly falling to their death.

Yu jumped forward and pulled her away while she broke down crying. He sat her down and listened to her story, though he could probably not care less. "I used to be fat, my family was poor, and everyone bullied me. Then we got our money, but everyone was jealous and drove us out. So we moved here. I worked to become thin and beautiful, but now that I am, still no one will love me."

Yu sighed on the inside. "Look on the bright side, you're still young, and have more of a chance of getting a boyfriend than a 40 year old."

Ai sniffed and smiled at him. "Thanks, you're always really nice to me. I wish I had fallen for you instead. Just kidding."

"How about we make a deal?" Yu suggested. "I'll pretend to be your boyfriend until you can get a real one. I'll get what I want while we're doing it, so you won't have to worry about that."

Ai looked happy as she smiled and said, "That sounds like it will work. Sure, let's give it a shot. Though I wonder what you look like without that hat of those." She reached for his hat while he leaned away.

Suddenly, a phone dinged. Yu pulled his phone out of his pocket and looked at the message. It was from Naoto, and it read, 'Nanako's getting real lonely with no one around. It's almost 6 after all."

Yu's mouth dropped open. "What the hell are you doing in my house?" He muttered to himself while Ai looked on, confused. He texted back, 'Why are you in my house?'

The reply was, 'Technically, it's your uncle's. And he sent me to get some more shit, luckily not having to buy it this time, but it's still a pain.'

Yu sighed. 'Maybe I should just go yell at him for you, so he'll stop.' He looked to Ai. "Next time, Ai-chan. Right now I think that it's time to beat the ever-living shit out of my uncle for sending a high schooler to do his absurd errands."

"Who's he sending?" Ai asked as he got up.

"Naoto Shirogane, who's a part-time detective. She got swept up in some rather crazy business and has to help out my uncle as a result."

"So basically, she's his bitch?"

Yu laughed lightly. "That does seem to be the case. See you later." He waved to Ai, and left to go home.

* * *

><p>(At Shu's place…)<p>

A strange silence filled the air. Neither of them were sure why, they just knew that they had no way of getting out of it. Yu looked around for something to bring up in a conversation. He saw the calendar, and the date was circled in red marker. It said, 'Shu's birthday!'

Shu noticed the calendar as well. "That's right, today's my birthday. Guess I forgot."

Yu was dumbfounded. Even he, with his limited parentage, never forgot his birthday, and never was allowed to. "Happy birthday. Be sure not to forget again."

"There's never anything to be happy about." Shu groaned. "Mom isn't even here! I have no reason to remember!" Tears formed at the edge of his eyes.

Yu got down on one knee and put a hand on the young boy's back. "You have me then. We'll have a grand celebration, one you will never forget, whether you like it or not." Yu smirked. For a decent celebration, you at least need cake. Guests wouldn't be a bad idea either. He pulled out his phone and called up Yosuke. Shu watched him with mild interest.

"Yo, Alpha. What's you need?" He asked.

"Do you think that you can get me a birthday cake and gather the gang?" He requested.

"Um, sure, what's this about?" Yosuke asked, clearly confused.

"A boy I'm tutoring is having a bad birthday because of bad parenting. Help me out here." He explained.

"You feel sorry for him, don't you?" Yosuke guessed.

"Yes, his mom is there more often than not, but he reminds me of my younger, neglected self."

"Yeah, give me twenty minutes, tops. Just text me the address to his house, 'K?"

* * *

><p>(Twenty minutes later…)<p>

Yu met everyone at the door. Naoto was among the small crowd, though she wasn't technically part of the gang. When asked, she told him that the group had run into her on the way over, and the girls dragged her along.

Yu had Shu close his eyes, and everyone quietly shuffled in. They placed the cake in front of the young lad and lit the candles. They told him to open his eyes, and when he did, they figured that he was about to have a heart attack.

"Alright, let's start this party off right!" Yukiko yelled. "With a song!"

They all started to sing. "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you! Happy birthday, dear…"

"Shu." Yu informed them.

"Shu-kun, happy birthday to you!" They finished.

Shu was still in shock, so Yu gave him a little nudge, and said, "Dude, you got to blow out the candles and make a wish." Shu looked confused, but took a deep breath, and-

The lights went out.

Chie started yelling in a sudden fright, and kicked Teddie repeatedly while he begged for mercy. Yukiko nearly found the switch, but instead rammed into Shu. After she grabbed his nose, she decided to sit back down. Only she ended up stepping on Rise while trying to find her spot, despite the fact that Rise probably hadn't moved, and had been across the table. Chie decided that she could handle the problem, and probably ended up kicking Kanji, judging from him saying, "Right in the solar plexus."

Yosuke then yelled at everyone to stop whatever the fuck they were doing and then yelled at Yu to get the lights.

The lights flickered on, and the only ones still in their spots were Rise and Naoto. Teddie was lying on top of Yosuke, Kanji and Chie were both lying face down, and Yukiko and Shu were both not far from the door. Yukiko looked extremely embarrassed, probably because she was the cause of most of that chaos.

Everyone got up and sat down in their places again. "How old are you now, Shu-kun?" Yukiko asked.

"I'm 13, er, 14 now." Shu answered.

"Wow, you're young." Chie commented.

"You aren't exactly an old lady, you know." Rise told her. Yukiko snorted in the background, apparently finding that incredibly funny.

Shu leaned over to Yu. "Quite an interesting bunch you have here." Yu nodded.

"Anyway, you're life is only beginning, Shu-kun." Yukiko said; having calmed down from the slight laughing fit she had.

"Er, yeah." Shu said

"Man, you have no idea when to turn on your cute, you know that?" Yosuke sighed.

"It's nothing. It's just the day I was born after all."

"Yep, and it's a time for you to celebrate! Be happy, you have us around!" Yu patted him on the back.

"Should I have been born at all though?" The boy questioned.

"Stupid!" Everyone, one after the other, said this to him.

"Of course you should have!" Yosuke said. Yu nodded in agreement, leaving Shu shocked.

Shu shook off his surprise, smiling and laughing lightly.

The party really livened up after he did. After about an hour, everyone took their leave, and only Shu and Yu were left.

Shu started to cry as Yu came back upstairs upon putting the remains of the cake in the fridge. When asked what was wrong, he told him, "I was suspended from school. I'm sorry, I cheated on my test. I was so worried about it, because if I wasn't number one… Mom won't love me anymore. It's the only thing she notices. When I told her, she said that she was shock, betrayed, embarrassed. She said that I'm not her son. She was crying." He started to sob uncontrollable, to the point where he couldn't get a word out.

Yu waited for him to calm down. When he did, he apologized. He sighed. "When I was able to write my name for the first time, mom praised me. She told anyone that would listen that I was a genius, brilliant. So I did anything I could to live up to those expectations. So that everyone would know that mom could raise a child on her own. I was always number one, until the transfer student came along. Suddenly the bar had been raised beyond what I could manage. He always is perfect with all of his tests, the school he came from was far better than ours. And he's good at sports and not shy about talking to people. To everyone, he was the best, and I was just the jealous guy in the corner that was laughed at. I'm not even the best at studying anymore, and that was all I really had. Now I don't really have anything. I'm nothing if I'm not number one, not even my mother cares about me."

He started to sniffle again. "I'm scared. Cheating was the only option I had to beat him, and now, I lost everything!"

Yu tried to comfort the boy, but it didn't really help.

There was the sound of a door opening, and then closing. Shu looked over to the closed door. "Mom's back." He fell silent. He suddenly got up, looking down at Yu with determination. "I'll go talk to her. Thank you for what you did tonight. Once you leave, I'll straighten everything out, and the next time that you come, all of my problems will either be solved, or a thousand times worse, but either way, I know that I can count on you."

Yu nodded and got up. The two walked out of the room, and Shu waved to him as he left the premise.

He was going to be fine… hopefully.

* * *

><p><strong>All righty then, finally, I hope that I can get into some really meat soon, which should be in the summer. Whatever, the people that follow this story are loyal to stick with me to this point, they can survive a little more until the summer portion of this, where I hope that things will get a little crazier. Right? Right...? Please don't abandon me. (whine)<strong>

**Anyway, it's only one or two chapters, so I will probably be skipping a couple days that are just a real bore, ya know? Unless things get moving before that, but you know.**


	31. Meinu Gets An Owner, And Guess Who!

**Well, I can't find videos of Ai's temporary lover route online, so more blind fun with this.**

**Also, you have to read at least the second day. Things get a little fucked up for our poor protagonist there.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 31<p>

(15th) (Friday)

Well, it seems that today is going to be yet another boring day at school. Man, couldn't summer get here any faster!? And Social Linking was getting really tedious. Sadly, with summer coming up, that also meant no school links, and he wanted to get them out of the way as fast as all damn possible. So it looks like Ai will be hung out with today.

She dragged him over to Okina City as soon as the bell allowed, and walked into a nearby clothing store. After about an hour of girly clothes shopping, as plenty of girls do, (though not all) they stopped to take a break and have a snack. Yu ended up paying for it all, not that he didn't have the money.

Ai slowly sipped her drink. Suddenly, she asked, "What do I have to do to get someone to like me?"

Yu calmly looked up from his food. "Work on your personality. I, for one, want my girlfriend to be at least a little humorous. Not too uptight and able to crack a joke at right time. If anything, not too bossy. Also, I don't think any guy wants to have his girl yelling at him, 'buy me something!' like that spoiled brat in the song called 'The 12 Pains Of Christmas. However, it isn't bad to not be shy when you do really want something."

Ai nodded. "I think I can manage that. Anything else?"

"Start out small. Get to know the person you like. That's Kou, right?" Ai nodded again. "Right, first, start coming to his practices more often. Lightly chat with him at the breaks, ask him how his day was. If he asks why, just let him know that you're curious. If he seems like he's been distracted the whole of practice, that might be another thing that you could bring up. Ease into it, and he might start to see the better side of you. Try it out, and tell me how it goes the next time we meet up, ok?"

Ai agreed, and they parted ways.

* * *

><p>(At the hospital…)<p>

Today the Link was to be MAXED.

Sayoko brought him into an unoccupied room. "I know that you're done with your work today, but I have some important news for you. I have to say 'goodbye.'"

"Goodbye?" Yu parroted the word in confusion.

Sayoko nodded. "Yes, tomorrow, I'm going to another hospital." She turned around, looking at the ground. "I'd grown to hate hospitals not long before that boy died. All of the death, and the life too, but anyone that managed that never stayed very long, and just left me behind. I was lonely, and completely sick of it." She turned back around, looking Yu straight in the eyes. "And then you reminded me. That I had become a nurse to help people, so that I could save people. Them leaving was just a part of the nurse cycle that I didn't want to remember existed. I didn't even realize that it was as simple as that. Maybe it was that I just didn't want to admit it."

She smiled gently as she continued. "To think that a boy with a rag constantly in his hand would be the one to show me what was right in front of me. So, I'll be leaving this place behind. I'm going to find that path that I left, and step back onto it, never leaving it again. I'm going to take full responsibly for everything that I do, and when I can do that, I can say that I have truly lived to the fullest." She walked over to him, pulling out her **Hospital ID**, handing it to him. "Take this, OK? With this act, I'm giving up the person that I was while here."

Yu looked at the slightly outdated photo of her. "If something happens to me, would you come back?" He asked.

Sayoko smiled as she answered. "That would depend on my schedule, but I would certainly try. Goodbye, Yu Narukami."

Sayoko left without another word, not looking back, not even once.

With nothing else to do, Yu left that hospital, never planning on entering for the sake of that job again.

* * *

><p>(16th) (Saturday)<p>

Yu sighed inwardly as he walked to school that day. Kanji was available today, but he wanted to conserve the Link a little so that he would have something to do during the summer. He also had no idea when Marie's Link would be available again. He didn't only want to hang out with Rise, even if Igor promised that it would be a little less noticeable. Still sounded like a bit of a pain to have nothing to do.

Meinu, who was walking alongside him, picked up on his lack of enthusiasm. "What's wrong, Yu-kun?" She asked.

Yu smiled. "You're observant. I'm running out of things to do. Maybe I should have paced myself a little more."

"Maybe what you should be doing is getting yourself a girlfriend." The rather smart dog suggested.

"Wow, is it bad that you have such a good grasp on human affairs that you know accurately what I should be wasting my time on?"

"It probably is." Meinu replied with a doggish grin.

"Hey, Yu-kun!" An eerily familiar voice called out.

Suddenly in a state of shock, Yu stopped moving, so Meinu started to nudge at his legs, saying, "Yu-kun, you're going to be late if you stop now!"

Yu still didn't move, until the person that the voice belonged to caught up, at which point he nearly sprinted all the way to the school. Instead, he took a deep breath, and hoped that he was in a dream as he started to walk again, slightly quicker this time.

"Hey there Yu-kun, I haven't seen you in forever!" The person said.

Yu slowly moved his head over to look at said person. "J-Junko. What the hell are you doing in Inaba?"

"Duh, I wanted to check out the place! Plus I just had to get out of school." She smiled. "This place is a dump though. It's not fit for us city kids. Want to go to Okina City after school lets out?"

Yu quickened his pace some more. "I'm sorry, I have plans, getting some one on one lessons with an expert in his field. I won't tell you what though, before you ask." Unten-shi saves the day!

"Oh, but I was hoping to reforge our bond of love, like we had before you left!" she said excitedly.

Time basically froze as those words hit him. He was not going back to being this nutso girl's boyfriend. 'OK Narukami, think. How do you get out of this?' He asked himself. 'I know, counter getting a girlfriend with another girl!'

"I'm sorry, Junko-chan, we can't do that. I'm already in a relationship with another girl." He said a little too quickly.

Junko tilted her head to the side. "With who? I want to meet her! What's her name?"

'Shit, I just put myself in a really bad spot!' Yu thought. 'OK, minor Arcana holder females are, um, Ayane, but she wouldn't take that very well. I don't want to fake-date Ai for longer than I have to, plus she might be getting her own guy soon. Nanako is too young, and Sayoko left yesterday night. Eri from the daycare Link is married, and Marie wouldn't be able to act at all, and probably take it the wrong way entirely. So minor Arcana's are out.'

Meinu whimpered. Yu broke out of his thoughts, and looked at her. "Shit, I never fed you this morning, did I?"

Meinu was confused. "Did you just say that you didn't feed me?" Yu had spoken in human, so she didn't quite understand what he said. "You did though, so are you just dodging this girl as much as possible?"

In a low whisper, Yu growled out, "Yes, I am, I need time to think, I told her I have a girlfriend, and now I have to choose which of my friends would be able to handle it correctly!"

Junko looked at him strangely. "Did you just bark?"

Yu spun to face her. "Um, no, that was Meinu. She's really chatty sometimes." He laughed nervously. He turned to Meinu. "You can go now; I have to think a little. Run off to Kuni now." He told her in doggish.

Meinu rolled her eyes, but complied none the less. Yu quickened his pace some more as his mind really started to race in an attempt to figure out what to do.

"OK, now that your pup ran away, answer the question!" Junko demanded, not questioning why he was constantly increasing his pace.

'OK, I don't know enough about Rise for it to work with her, Yukiko's a maybe, but would she be able to act out the part? Chie's a no; I probably wouldn't be able to act right. That means that I have two options, Yukiko and Naoto.'

Before he could weigh the pros and cons of each girl, Junko poked him. "Come on, it's just a name. Say it!"

"Stop bugging me, woman!" He yelled. Junko glared at him. "O-ok, fine, her name is…" He took a deep breath. This decision could affect most of his summer, so he had to choose wisely. Then a thought popped in his head. He could get a decent Social Link if he didn't pick Yukiko. Even if Naoto didn't hold one, he could always talk to Igor about it, and he might just take pity on the poor boy. He smiled. "Alright. Her name is Naoto Shirogane."

"Isn't that a boy's name?" Junko asked, probably now thinking that he was dating a guy.

"Yes, it is, and now that you bring it up, I have to wonder what was going through her parent's minds when they named her, but that doesn't really matter now." In the distance, the first bell rang. "Shit, I have to run. See you later." He ran off, in a really bad mood.

* * *

><p>At lunch, Yu ran around the whole school trying to find Naoto. After finding her, he dragged her rather roughly up to the rooftop, where there was no one around.<p>

After he closed the door leading down, he turned to her. "What the hell was that about?" She asked. "You look like you're about to have a panic attack."

"That's because I am." He replied. "Alright, I have a damn good idea that you are really going to hate me for this-"

"What did you do?!" She asked, quickly getting fired up.

Yu held his hands up. "I'm sorry! You've already been dragged into this, I can't change it!"

"What did you do?!" She repeated.

"An old girlfriend of mine has apparently come to Inaba to 'reforge the bond of love, like we had before I left.' Only problem, I don't like her one bit, so I countered getting a girlfriend with a having a girlfriend!" He took a deep breath.

Naoto looked about ready to strangle him as she started to talk. "So let me get this straight. You didn't want to be in a relationship with a girl, so you told her that you have a girlfriend already, right?" Yu nodded. "And of all of the females that you know, you chose me to pretend to be in a relationship with you?" He nodded again. She stopped for a second; perfectly calm, and then it finally clicked what he did. "YOU DID WHAT!?" She yelled it so loud someone across the town probably heard it loud and clear.

Yu quickly covered her mouth. "Calm down, please. I'm sorry! But think of the compilations that might come about if she found out about my ears and tail! I figured that you were one of the few people that could handle this!"

"And what happened to the other people?!" She cried out in a panic.

"That was Nanako." He said. His cousin was probably the only other one that could manage to keep her calm in this situation.

Naoto took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. "And how long do you figure that it will take until she leaves?"

"That, I cannot say." He replied solemnly. "Just roll along with it the best that you can, and we should be fine." Naoto nodded, walking back inside without another word, probably having lost whatever appetite that she had before she was told the news.

At that moment, Yu gained the Fortune Arcana, making him extremely glad of his decision.

* * *

><p>(After school…)<p>

Outside the school, Meinu was waiting in her normal spot. "I heard yelling around your lunch time. What happened?" She asked.

Yu crouched over by the dog and lightly stroked her head. "Naoto-kun wasn't very fond of the idea of pretending to be my girlfriend. Don't worry about it." He told her.

"Yu-kun!" Junko's voice cut through all of the chatter that the students hanging around the grounds, causing them to stop and look at the girl running over to the second year student. "I want to meet her now!" She demanded.

Yu sighed as he got up. "Alright, I'll go find her. Stay here, OK?" As soon as he was 5 feet away, he heard doggish yells.

"Help, Yu-kun!" Meinu cried.

Yu turned around, and found that Junko was obsessively hugging the poor mutt, crushing her lungs probably. He fixed a mean glare at the girl, and she set down the canine, who then decided that it was best to follow Yu into the school, despite technically not being allowed, though Yu didn't complain.

Yu opened the door to the first-year's homeroom, and there was a small group of girls that crowded around Meinu, giving her pats and pets and other forms of love that she absolutely savored.

He walked over to Naoto, who looked like she didn't want to move from her seat, especially after seeing Yu walk up to her. He mustered up a smile and said, "It's time for you to meet the crazy girl."

Naoto looked absolutely frightened as the color drained from her face, and she stiffened. It looked like she wanted to yell, 'Hell no!' but seemed to have lost her voice.

He pulled her out of her seat and pulled her outside, Meinu begrudgingly pulling herself from the students. Before they got outside, Yu picked up Meinu. "Want to hug a puppy to make you feel better?" He offered.

She nodded, and he slowly put the pup in her arms. For a minute, she just stood there, stroking the dog's fur, almost like she was absolutely frightened of this, despite all of it being fake, and was taking comfort in the dog's presence. After a while, he tapped her on the shoulder, snapping her out of the trance that she had fallen into.

"Do you just want to keep her?" He asked.

"Can I?" She asked. "I thought that she was yours."

"Dojima wouldn't let us keep a mutt like her. So I feed her every morning, and my leftovers from lunch in the afternoon. She's gotten a lot healthier since when I first met her, and she's a real sweetie." He pet Meinu's head. "However, I worry for her all the time. Even in Inaba, it could be dangerous, even if she does hang out with Kuni a lot."

"Kuni?" Naoto asked.

"The fox that lives at the shrine. That's the name Meinu gave him. I've gotten really good with my dog language, so when I told her the name that she has now, she told me the name that she gave the fox. Though apparently I have a thick accent, same with fox language, as there are some slight differences. Come on, we came talk about this later."

Naoto whined lightly in protest, but put Meinu down anyway and walked outside with Yu.

When they were out, Junko was there, very annoyed. "What took you?!" She shrieked.

They both cringed, Meinu as well. "Sorry, just got a little hung up because of a teacher telling us to not have a dog in the school. King Moron is really nitpicky sometimes." Yu half-lied, as King Moron was quite nitpicky.

"OK, let's go to the shrine!" Junko quickly perked up, and grabbed their arms, dragging them along.

* * *

><p>(At the shrine…)<p>

Junko was looking all over the golden colored parts of the shrine. Naoto leaned over to Yu and whispered, "I can fully see why you have no interest in her now." Yu nodded.

Junko came back in a happy mood. She looked at Naoto. "So, you're the girl that's dating Yu-kun now. That hat and short hair makes you look like the guy that your name suggests you are."

Before Naoto could yell at Junko, Yu put a hand on her shoulder. "Down, girl." He joked.

"I am not a dog!" She yelled.

"Nah, you're more of a cat." He continued to joke. "That only thing that is inherently dog-like about you is your work. You're not exactly the Alpha there, let's just say that."

"'Let's just say that'? Were you going to say something else there?"

"Well, a less kind way of putting it is… um, well, you're kind of Dojima's slave at this point. Do you remember the day Yukiko was found? The errands that took about an hour between the two of us?"

Naoto sighed. "The only thing that made any sense from the whole list was that blue stress-reliever shit. I mean, he wanted fake vomit from my half of the list!"

Yu's mouth fell open. "Are you fucking with me? Maybe he was playing some extreme prank on Adachi to get back at him for not working."

The two of them launched into a conversation about what Yu's uncle had needed those many items for that day a couple months ago, completely forgetting that Junko was standing there, and that they decided that they wouldn't question it.

Though it was unintentional, this happened to cause Junko to walk away with a huff, at which point they both remembered that they were standing by the shrine.

Naoto looked around. "Weren't we doing something?"

Yu blinked in surprise. "You know, I hardly remember. My uncle is a very distracting subject." Yu decided to just move on. "Anyway, do you want to keep Meinu? Don't you live in an apartment?"

"Yeah, I do, but no one really cares if you have pets. One of my neighbors has somewhere around 10 cats." She replied. "And I really do want to keep her."

"You live next to a cat lady? Ouch, I feel bad for you, I couldn't put up with that." He crouched and whistled to Meinu to come over. In doggish, he asked, "Hey, do you care if Naoto-kun takes care of you?"

"As in an owner!?" Meinu yipped. Yu nodded. "Of course not! But you have to visit every once in awhile! That's my only condition!"

Yu got up. "Yeah, I think that she has no problems with it. Come on, we have to get her a collar and leash."

And that's exactly what they did. They got her a plain red collar and leash, which she found uncomfortable, but when told that, Naoto promised to remove it when she was in the apartment.

And thus, with a light sob, Yu said his goodbye to the canine and ran away before he started bawling, which confused them, Yu himself included, greatly.

* * *

><p><strong>Yeah, any of you remember Junko from, like, two chapters ago? She's back!<strong>

**Also, I decided that it would be best to give Meinu an owner.**

**And I couldn't help it with the fake girlfriend thing. I wanted to get that Social Link rolling soon.**

**And I also brought Dojima's random shit back up. I think that I now know why I added that in there to begin with. To show off the fact that he's a cruel, cruel man. Sad how it just hit me as I'm writing this.**

**Oh, and you have to look up Okamiden Chibiterasu Pet. I wanted to see if there were any pictures online that showed Chibi with a collar on, and instead I found the most adorable Shiba Inu. That pup is absolutely adorable!**


	32. A Frightening Increase Of Junko

**Alrighty then. I think that I'm running out of things to say in these.**

**Um... I guess I should tell you what I'm going for with Junko. I'm aiming for her to come off as a sort of crazy lady that is pretty much willing to kidnap someone to get the person she loves to love her back. I honestly don't know where the inspiration for her came from.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 32<p>

(17th) (Sunday)

Yu walked down to the river. He hadn't seen the old lady in two weeks now. When he got there, she was nowhere to be found, so he sat down by the river and waited to see if she would show.

Five minutes later, she came and sat down, muttering a friendly hello. "Do my clothes smell of incense?" Yu looked at her like she was crazy. "My husband's tsuki meinichi is today, and I just came back from visiting his grave."

"What's tsuki meinichi?" Yu asked, feeling slightly stupid for not knowing.

Hisano chuckled. "I thought that you, of all people, would know, Yu-chan. The day a person dies is known as their 'meinichi,' and that day of the month is known as their 'tsuki meinichi.'"

Yu smiled and nodded, and they both looked at the rushing water from the river, that is, until Hisano spoke again. "Do you know what Death is?" Yu looked at her in confusion. "Death is the entity that takes people away to the gods. For those who want to reach the gods, as well as the family of those people, Death is an ally."

Yu nodded. "I guess that makes sense."

"And that is why I am Death." She sighed lightly. "When a person dies, the people that are left behind grieve, right? "Why did that person have to die?" That is the question that everyone wants the answer to. How is it right that the life had to come to an end? The person did nothing wrong, yet…" She looked back to the river. "We all want to think that they went to the gods. That they were summoned by the gods, and that we can't do anything about it. We want to convince ourselves of that. Sometimes we look forward to Death taking them away. To end their suffering. You don't quite understand yet, do you?"

Yu shook his head. "More than likely not."

"And I hope that you never will." Hisano got up. "I must be going now. You might want to run home as well. Goodbye, Yu-chan."

Yu watched her walk away before getting up and walking the path home. Along the way, he got a text, asking if he wanted to go to the city. It was from Junko. He sighed and replied, 'no.'

He got a whiny reply, but he ignored it.

He went to Junes to pick up some food for lunch tomorrow at school, because school provided food is absolutely nasty. He picked up a chunk of meat, some other things, and wandered around to see what was happening around the store. Yosuke was in the electronic department, and Teddie was keeping the kids entertained.

He wandered into the appliance section, but as he was about to leave after realizing that he had no business there, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Junko wandering about, so he hid behind the nearby corner.

"Senpai?" He heard a voice question his presence.

Yu swiftly turned his head to see who it was. It was Naoto, Meinu at her heels, who didn't look happy with a collar on. He turned his head back to keep an eye on Junko.

"I'm afraid to think, but what are you doing?"

"I could ask you the same question." Yu replied, his voice a low whisper. "I was wandering around, and now Junko's blocking my path out."

Naoto looked around the corner as well. "That is a problem. I guess we'll have to keep an eye on her until a path opens up. Or she spots us, but I think that I want to avoid that."

After five minutes, Junko still hadn't leave, nor left an opening for the two. They had spent so much time standing there that Yosuke had been called over to see what they were doing. After they explained the situation, Yosuke decided that he would distract her so his friends could slip away.

Yosuke walked up to her. "Good morning." He greeted. "Is there anything that I can help you with? You haven't gotten much further than the entrance of the section."

Junko looked at him. "Ah, yes, I'm new around here, and I think that I may be a little lost. I'm just trying to get used to the surrounding."

Yosuke nodded. "Not surprising. This is a big store. Are you looking for anything in particular, or are you just browsing?"

This sort of thing went on for a while, but finally, Junko's back was turned, so Yosuke stuck his hand behind his back and made a waving motion, a sign that the two could leave.

And they hightailed it out of there.

Once away from the store in its entirety, they let out a sigh of relief. They both let out a groan and went their separate ways before anything else really stupid could happen, but not before Yu asked Meinu how she liked living with Naoto.

"It's great!" She yipped. "Last night while she was reading, she let me curl up on her lap! It was really nice!"

Yu chuckled as he looked up at Naoto. "It appears that she won't leave you without a fight. Well, I should be going before Junko suddenly pops up again."

* * *

><p>(18th) (Monday)<p>

It was Ocean Day, so students had the day off. Though it was a holiday, he wasn't sure if the old woman was available today, so he decided that he just wouldn't try.

The first thing he did was check his phone. He had a couple messages, so he opened the first one, from Junko. What he found was rather frightening. 'I saw you at Junes yesterday. Why were you avoiding me?'

Yu gulped as he opened the next message, apparently also from Junko. 'I know that the boy, what was his name, Yosuke? He was in cahoots with you and helping you escape.'

OK, now he was really scared. So he did a logical thing and texted Naoto. 'She saw us at Junes yesterday. I'm frightened.'

While he waited for a reply, he decided to go down to the bookstore, as he hadn't been there in a while. He picked up a small number of books, and ran around doing things for a boy to get even more books.

After 30 minutes of this, he got a reply, and thus the conversation started. It went something like this…

'Great. You sound like a little kid who thinks there's something under his bed. Was she mad, or could you not tell?'

'That took you long enough. And she didn't seem happy, let's say that. Also, she knows that Yosuke was in cahoots with us.'

'Oh no. That's not a good sign at all.'

'You think? In about 30 minutes, let's meet up at the shrine and discuss what to do. Texting is really inconvenient when you get down to it.'

'Sure.'

And so Yu had half an hour to do what he wanted. So he dropped off his books at his house and went to Daidara's.

When he opened the door, the metalsmith was inspecting some neat-looking armor. He turned around when he heard the door creak open.

"Ah, Yu-kun, good morning. I think that I finally have managed to finish your armor. I also have some leftover materials, so if you call one of your friends over, I can get started on theirs."

Yu walked over to the armor, looking it over. Daidara moved over and poked its left shoulder plate. It suddenly transformed into a watch. The man handed it to Yu, who poked at it curiously.

"It will mold to your wants. You can make it heavy armor that is slow but offers more protection, or you can keep it as it is."

Yu slipped the watch on. It had a digital and analog clock. Daidara pressed a button on the side, and the armor suddenly engulfed Yu.

"If anything breaks off, when you recall the armor, it will be stored with the rest of it. It will remain broken though, so remember that." Daidara informed him, ripping off one of the hands and throwing it across the room. "You can recall it by tapping the left shoulder, and if that is gone, the right, and if that is gone, then I'm not sure. But it should transform back into a watch after you hit something."

Yu tapped the left shoulder, and the armor changed form into the watch. The hand that had been thrown across the room warped to it as well. Yu reequipped the armor and let Daidara reattach the hand, which dropped in front of him when the rest of the armor was in place.

"That's really cool, Daidara-san. Thank you. How much do I owe you?" Yu asked as he threw some punches and kicks to get a feel for the weight placed on him.

"That depends, how many friends you got that would need this stuff?"

Yu thought for a moment. There might be another person joining them, and Rise was on support duty at all times, so she had no reason to have it. "At the moment, 5, but there might be another person joining us down the line."

Daidara nodded. "Alright then, 5,000 yen each."

Yu paid the money. Daidara then choose that to be the perfect time to show one of the best features of the thing. The fact that weapons were stored alongside it. So no more paranoid running through Junes every time they buy new weapons.

Yu thanked Daidara again and left the store, texting Yosuke, saying, 'Dude, I have to show you the armor Daidara made me. This thing is awesome!' And sent a picture of his new watch.

He got a reply that said, 'Dude, I'm at work right now, and what does a watch have to do with anything?'

Yu laughed lightly and replied, 'You'll see when you see.'

He didn't get a reply back, and he had 10 minutes left, so he figured that he should just talk to Kuni.

(At the shrine…)

"Yo, Kuni!" Yu called out to the fox.

The fox jumped down. "How'd you learn my name? Chibi told you, didn't she?"

"Her name is Meinu now." Yu informed him.

"That name is too generic." Kuni complained. "At least be a little creative."

"Too bad, she likes it, and has decided to keep it." Yu told him.

Before Kuni could yell at Yu, he was suddenly tackled as a squeaky voice called out, "Kuni!"

Yu turned to find Naoto standing there with a small smile as she watched Kuni try and force Meinu off him.

"So, what are we going to do?" Yu started as Kuni finally threw his friend off him. "I think that Junko just being here is getting really out of hand."

Naoto nodded. "That's true. Now that I think about it, few parents feel safe sending their child somewhere that they've never even heard of. I wonder if she ran away from home?"

Yu grimaced. "That's a high possibility with her. I know that this will sound bad, but maybe we can pickpocket her, and get her phone. Then we can call her parents, and return the phone before she notices it's gone."

"You moron!" Naoto scolded him. "If you're caught, then you could get arrested."

"Then I won't get caught. You don't have to be a part of it if you want, but you could play the role of support and distract her."

"But she knew that we were hiding from her at Junes. She's incredibly observant for someone like her." Naoto was clearly unsure.

"If she catches us, all the blame with be on me. Just pretend that you're surprised to see me, and maybe things might go our way." Yu reassured her. "Hey, best case scenario, should she catch us, she'll go home by herself, because she realizes that I'm not the best person to be her boyfriend."

With that decided, the two went onto the procedure. It was this…

1. They find Junko while she's out walking.

2. They find the best path to intercept her course.

3. Naoto pretends to be walking Meinu.

4. She walks in front of Junko.

Hopefully, they will strike up a conversation, and then Yu will sneak up and steal the girl's phone. He feared that he would have to use the Demon Powers, as it will give him better reaction time and stealth capabilities. However, he didn't want Naoto (or Junko for that matter) to know of his powers.

And thus they looked around for the girl. They found her walking not far from the shopping district, making the interception easier.

As soon as Naoto and Meinu were in her sights, she called out to them and ran over. She started interrogation on why she, her dog, and Yu avoided her at Junes yesterday. Naoto spoke slowly, but not too slowly as to not get caught. Junko didn't seem to be happy with her answer, and started yelling. After a minute of some uncomfortable walking, Junko calmed down a little and turned to face the road they were walking along. This was Yu's cue to get down there, and so he snuck along, and when he got closer, he crouched. Slowly, he got closer and closer. When there was no one else around, and Junko wasn't looking, he reached forward and pulled the phone out swiftly, hiding behind a nearby corner.

There was no indication that Junko noticed that her phone was suddenly missing from her pocket, so he took that as the OK sign. He pressed the home button on the iPhone 5, and the lock screen lit up. There were ten missed calls since she last went passed that screen. They were all from her mom or dad.

Carefully, he slid the unlock bar, and found that the girl never put a password on the thing. He smiled and opened the contacts app. He skimmed through the contacts until he found 'mom.'

He tapped it, and pressed call. It rang a small number of times, and then he heard a click, and heard a frantic female voice call out, "Hello? Hello?!"

"Um, hi." Yu muttered a nervous hello, sure that the parents were going to think that he kidnapped their daughter.

"Where's our daughter, you bastard!?" A strong male voice yelled. Yep, called it.

"Just I as figured." Yu muttered. "Alright, this is Yu Narukami speaking, and your daughter has run over here to Inaba, out in the middle of nowhere. She called a week or two ago and I stupidly told her my location. Now she's come here, and I'm sorry, but I'm seriously fed up with her. Can you come and retrieve her, please?"

"Why are you telling us this?!" The male asked. "Why do you have her phone?!

"Like I said, I'm fed up with her, and can't take it anymore. So I stole her phone so I could call you up, and request that you get her to go home. We're in Yasoinaba, please hurry."

He heard some muttering among the parents, 'Can we trust him?' 'We have no choice.' That sort of thing.

Without warning, they hung up. Yu shrugged and added the number to his phone should he have to reach them again. He then turned around the corner and wandered around the place trying to find Junko and Naoto.

He found them some way away, and stealthily slipped the phone into her pocket without her noticing. He then backed off a little, uncrouching. He walked up to them, and said hello.

They had a (not really) nice conversation with Junko before parting ways.

"Is it done?" Naoto asked.

"To the best of my abilities." Yu answered. "I have their number, and they know that we're in Inaba. They were a little pissed to begin with, and I'm not sure that they trust me, but I think that they trust me enough to travel here in search of her."

"So then, she did run away from home to try and be with you? Yikes." Naoto muttered. "I guess the best thing that we can do now is hope to God that she doesn't kill us before her parents get here."

Yu sighed. "At least you have a dog to protect you. All I got is my bare fists." He wasn't going to tell her of his armor, and how it would hurt to get punched with the metal.

"Yes, but you are plenty more physically able than me. Even if I tried to throw a punch, it would either do nothing, or miss entirely." Though that was probably a joke, it was also probably true. Then again, her slaps stung long after her flesh was no longer touching the receiver's. When he told her of that, she rolled her eyes. "That's a slap, Senpai. A punch is entirely different."

This time, Yu rolled his eyes, but didn't reply, only waving and leaving.

* * *

><p><strong>OK then. This will probably end up being a good portion of the summer if I'm unlucky, and forget to get everything in there and everything.<strong>

**I don't know why, but I think of the armor as the kind that the three characters from Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep wear throughout the game. That's just me. Like Yu's has Terra's color, but more Ven's shape. If you don't know what the hell I'm talking about, disregard it please.**


	33. Insight On The Mysterious Powers

**OK there's the next chapter, and I decided to move on with the ears, and a bit more on how the ears got there, though of course no one really knows what the hell is going on here, that's what keeps this a bit interesting, right?**

* * *

><p>Chapter 33<p>

(19th) (Tuesday)

First term finals. The dreaded time had come again. They would go until the weekend and drain all unfortunate souls of any and all energy.

* * *

><p>(Time skip) (Now 23rd) (Saturday)<p>

Five students somehow didn't complete their test on time. They were the people that were lazy and didn't listen in class. Like Yosuke, only he completed his. Barely.

Chie groaned. "I think I fucked up again."

Yukiko snorted in light laughter. "More than likely, you did."

Chie scowled. "Thanks for making me feel better."

Before anymore shit could go down, the first years of the group walked in to say hi. They all looked really glum. Rise was basically ranting to herself about the necessities of the English language. "I can just hire a translator, why do I have to take a class about this stuff?"

"Because you're required to take two years of a foreign language, Rise-chan." Naoto answered.

"But it's unfair!" Rise whined. "Why do I need to know seven coordinating conjunctions anyway? They're impossible to learn and remember."

"And, but, or, nor, so, for, yet." Naoto said instantly.

"Fine, so I'm just really bad at English. Let's get off this topic." Rise groaned. "So how'd you guys do?"

"Yukiko did the usual A+ job, Chie fucked up, my pen was almost to the point where it was literally on fire, and Yosuke did a Yosuke and bombed." Yu answered, not even really stopping to think. Yosuke and Chie groaned. "You guys do as bad as those two?"

"I think it's pretty obvious how Rise-chan did." Kanji said, jabbing his thumb in Rise's direction.

"Oh, like you did any better!" Said idol shot back.

"Yeah, that's true. But my grades can't get any worse at this point, so I have a lot less to worry about." Kanji responded.

Yosuke stretched a little. "Man, two more days in school until summer. Why can't they just let us out now?"

"Because they want to torture you knowing that your scores were horrible and get in a last laugh before the break." Chie complained.

"Man, that sucks." Yosuke sighed. He looked around, finding that the classroom was empty. "Anyone want to come over to Junes with me? I have half an hour 'til I have to work, so I figured that we could bug Teddie. He's our new store's mascot, but I think that we can pull him away for a bit to work on hiding our ears." Yu nodded and stood.

"Wait, what's this now?" Naoto asked, clearly confused.

Yu looked at her like she was stupid for a second until he remembered that she wasn't there for that conversation. "Oh, right. We have a friend who figured out how to hide his ears after he got them, so we figure that we can hide ours as well."

"Wait, there's another who got ears!?" She hissed. "It's spreading like a disease."

"Yeah, I guess we forgot to mention him to you or Dojima-san." Yosuke said, in a tone that said 'oops.' "You want to come with us? You hang out with us so much that you might catch it! Good to already know what to do, right?" He joked.

Chie kicked him in the shin. "It doesn't actually spread like a virus you know!"

Yosuke started hopping on one foot, clutching his wounded shin.

"In any case, who's going?" Yu asked.

Everyone made some sort of motion to indicate they would go. Yosuke stuck his thumb up, still waiting for the pain of Chie's kick to subside.

* * *

><p>(Junes food court)<p>

Everyone took a seat to have a snack before talking to Teddie. The topic eventually moved to exams once again. "'The chemical formula HCHO, used for silver mirror reactions. Its 40% solution is known as formalin. What is HCHO?'" Rise repeated one of the questions that absolutely stumped her in science.

"It's formaldehyde." Yu answered.

"Oh, it was something that I couldn't pronounce if my life depended on it. Of course." Rise groaned. "On the bright side, I was at least smart enough to know that it wasn't vinegar."

"For you, I guess that's an accomplishment in of itself." Kanji smiled.

"Not like you did any better!" Rise yelled.

"Actually, I have a formula for the things in science that I have no way of knowing. Choose the things that you can't pronounce for shit. So I got that one right." Kanji countered, leaving Rise stunned at the very idea that Kanji of all people got that sort of thing correct.

"Why don't you get Yukiko to help you, Rise-chan? She's kept me from being held back numerous times now." Chie suggested.

"Yeah, not a bad idea, but wouldn't you want a smart guy to help you? Like Yu-senpai?" Rise questioned.

"I could do that, if you want to study for your whole summer break." Yu suggested.

An anime-esque sweatdrop ran down the side of her face as she stared blankly at him, thinking that he was joking. He wasn't. "I think that I'll study with Yukiko then."

"Guys, we have ten minutes 'til I have to go to work. Let's get crackin'." Yosuke stood, and everyone else did as well.

Everyone wandered over to Teddie, who was handing balloons out to children, except Rise, which Yu took notice of. "What's up? Come on, we need to get to Teddie."

"Hey, senpai, while studying with you sounds like a bit of a nightmare, do you think that you could show me around town later?" She asked.

"Um, sure." He agreed. 'How did you know that I was going to be the only one to stay behind…? Wait a minute… Smooth Igor.'

The Velvet Room occupants' voices appeared in his mind as time basically stopped. 'I promised that it would less noticeable, no?'

'Now you just need to fix Adachi's Link.' Marie voice suddenly jumped in.

'That's your fault, Marie.' Margaret sighed. 'Honestly, if I wasn't afraid of you ruining it more, I would put that duty on you.'

'Do you not trust me?' Marie asked.

'Not with this.' Margaret replied.

'Can you guys not have this conversation inside of my head?' Yu requested.

'I'm sorry; these two bicker a lot nowadays.' Igor apologized. 'Can you come and steal away Marie every once and awhile? We need to get her out of here.'

'Yeah, sure, now can I not hear your voices in my head please?' There was a click, like someone ended a phone call, and time moved again.

Rise waved her hand in front of his eyes. "You awake there?"

Yu jumped slightly. "Yeah, sorry, let's get moving."

Before the team entered the TV, which they deemed as the most secret place that they could train their ear-hiding, they realized that they had a 'normal' person that couldn't enter the TV, nor knew of the world inside, with them. Yu quickly called the group into a huddle when he realized this.

"What are we going to do?" Yu asked, getting some strange looks from his friends, as he hadn't told them why he called for a huddle.

"About what?" Yukiko asked.

"We have determined that the best place to go is the TV, but now we have someone who is "normal" in the regard that she doesn't have a persona, no ears, and doesn't even know of the TV world." Yu informed them.

"Yeah, and it would be a little rude to ditch her." Rise said, thinking about what to do.

"I don't have much more time until I have to go to work, so I'll take her away. Teddie lives with me, so I have a lot more time to train outside of right after school." Yosuke said, breaking away from the huddle. He walked over to Naoto. "Sorry, we just remembered that the most secret place in Junes is actually only accessible by those with ears, and since we've spent enough time goofing off that I now have to go to work, you're coming with me."

"Only accessible by those with ears?" She parroted. "That only makes me want to see it."

"Trust me when I say this, you never want to see that place. It's a fucking nightmare half the time. The other half is actually rather calm though." Yosuke said, walking away, pulling Naoto along with him by her wrist, using her lack of physical strength against her.

Everyone watched them disappear before heading out into the TV.

* * *

><p>(Inside the TV…)<p>

Inside, Teddie removed his suit and sat down, his legs crossed. He gazed at the people that were standing. Taking that as a sign, the others followed suit, sitting down.

"Alright young knights, and my queen as well." Teddie began.

"Don't call me 'queen.'" Rise demanded. "I said that I'll think about it if you give it some time and show me how to successfully hide my ears."

Teddie did an awkward half-bow while sitting. "Terribly sorry, princess." Rise sighed. "Anyway, remove your hats."

Everyone followed his orders. Teddie's popped out. "First things first, the first time will take a lot of energy. Second, there are a lot of steps. Prepare to feel the inner burn."

"Alright, let's get on with it then!" Rise was clearly impatient.

Teddie nodded. "First, you have to gather some of your internal energy, like when you use your Demon Form. Only a small fraction, otherwise you risk bringing the power out."

Everyone but Rise began to work on that. Rise had no way of knowing how to call out her powers in the slightest though, so Teddie was helping her.

'Just a tiny fraction.' Yu told himself as he closed his eyes and his mind automatically started to imagine how it was happening in an unrealistic way. His power was a decent sized blindingly white orb, and he was trying to grab onto only a tiny piece of it with an invisible hand. However, every time that he grabbed onto a piece, he released it because he figured it was too big. Finally, he got a small amount that he figured would work, so he pulled it away from the rest, but he felt a familiar surge of energy, and he opened his eyes.

His powers had awakened. Everyone else seemed to be having trouble though, which made him feel a bit better, and Rise couldn't even call her powers out in its entirety still. Yu looked at his watch. 5 minutes until they should leave, and when he started to concentrate, there had been at least 30. He didn't want to try again today, so he settled on watching Rise and Teddie. Both didn't realize that he was watching.

Teddie was kneeling behind Rise, his hand on her back, between the shoulder blades. He spoke softly to her. "I've found that your power can be best located, or at least felt, in between your shoulder blades." He closed his eyes.

For a minute, nothing happened, and then he opened his eyes. "You don't have a lot of power, not that you need it. Though this makes it harder for you to use initially, but it can be better controlled then someone like Sensei-knight. Don't worry if you can't grasp it now." He removed his hand.

Rise nodded, though she seemed saddened as she got up, lightly poking the others to let them know that it was time to go. Yu closed his eyes and pretended that he hadn't heard all of that. Rise poked him on the shoulder. "Come on, we should be going."

Yu looked up at her, nodding and getting up.

* * *

><p>(At Shu's house…)<p>

Rank was to be MAXED! Although that meant that there wasn't going to be anything to do at night, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it, right?

Yu took his seat in Shu's room. Said boy sat opposite of him, as per usual.

"Thank you for what you did for me last time. Um, my suspension wasn't long, though having everyone stare at me really hurt. But that's my own fault. I shouldn't have cheated. After I talked to her, mom bought me a cake for my birthday. She told me that she lost her temper and said terrible things, but that she didn't really mean any of it. She told me, "I'll always be proud of you, dear." I also told her why I cheated. About the transfer student, and about being her genius.

"She told me, "Let's start over. As a family this time." I always figured that a family was something that was already there, and that it was finished. But it looks like you can start over, as many times as needed. I wasn't really paying any attention to mom the whole time. I figured that if I wasn't the best, she'd look down at me. Because of that, I thought that I have to be the best, just to be loved. But that wasn't true. She loved me the whole time, and I just didn't realize it." Shu looked like he was about to cry. "Thank you, sensei. Your friends as well. Thank you for seeing the real 'me.' If you hadn't, I wouldn't have worked up the nerve to talk to my mother."

"That was all you. I just gave a small shove off the cliff." Yu said.

"Sounds a little dark when you say it like that." Shu laughed lightly. He reached across the table, handing Yu his **test results**. "I got this after a mock exam a couple months ago. I thought that was the only thing that kept my mom from hating me. But it wasn't anything physical. So please do me a favor and take it away. Take it away until I can look at it and laugh about the things I thought about myself." He laughed lightly. "I cheated on a test, got suspended. My record must be a wreck by now. I'm off the train heading straight for a good college and a good company. But, I'm alright with that. Not everything is about college and jobs. I have to live a little. If I had stayed on that one-way train, not thinking about what I was missing, I would have been empty, worthless. From now on, I'm going to be number one, while setting my own path. My life is only beginning, and not only because I'm still young. It's because I've realized what I'm doing wrong." Shu laughed, embarrassed at him awkward mini-speech.

**Rank MAX!**

"Hey, after today, I'm going to stop the tutoring. I'm going to join the baseball team. I've never played, but I always wanted to, but my mindset kept me from doing it. I don't actually know much about it though." He laughed happily. "I want to try new things, break away from my studies. They aren't everything, after all. Who knows, maybe someday we can play together someday."

The two made small talk until Yu had to go home, at which point Shu said a sorrowful goodbye.

* * *

><p>(24th) (Sunday)<p>

At the river, Hisano was standing a little to the right of her usual spot. Normally she was to the left of the steps, but now she was to the right. Not much, but an interesting change. Yu came by and stood beside her. She looked over at him. "Good morning, Yu-chan. I'm glad that we could meet again. Why do you keep coming back here every weekend? Surely you have better things to do?"

"You're by far the most interesting person that I can hang out with on my day off." Yu replied.

"You're just special, aren't you?" She smiled happily. "I think that I talk too much. I want to hear about you. Anything at all."

Yu thought for a second. "Alright, um, I hang out with four girls, and they are an interesting bunch, let me tell you."

Hisano smiled. "You are going to break a lot of hearts in your lifetime; you know that, don't you? I wish I could listen to your stories forever, but, I don't want to see you again. You remind me of him too much. Goodbye, Yu-chan." Although slowly, the old woman left the scene.

With nothing better to do, he sat down, and concentrated. Many times, he screwed up, and was barely able to hide the sudden spike in power. In what seemed to be 5 minutes, it was almost night, so he gave up and went home.

* * *

><p>At home, Yu had about 20 minutes until dinner would be ready, so he once again set about to try and channel his power. He closed his eyes…<p>

And opened them to find he was standing in a peaceful plain. Opposite him was a young teen, who possessed silver wolfish ears, along with short, silver hair. He wore pants that seemed to be made of a silver wolf's hide. A wolf tail stuck out from his behind. His chest was bare, and wore a necklace of feathers. He stared coldly at Yu, who stared back in confusion.

"Why do you want my power?" He questioned.

Yu stared dumbly at him. "What do you mean? I mean, there's a power inside of me that I wish to channel, but… Is that yours?"

"Of course it's mine, moron! Did you think that it's normal to just wake up with ears, a tail, and increased strength?!" The boy snarled.

Yu took a step back. "Why didn't you talk to me earlier?"

"I can't contact you. You have to do something to speak to me. I'm just a mind now. My power is with you." The boy informed him.

"N-nice to meet you. So, do you know what's going on outside this mindscape then?"

The boy nodded. "Yeah, I do, and I don't see your problem with your ears. Why hide them?"

"Um, generally, eared people would be seen as freaks. Run out of town, I'm sure." Yu responded unhappily.

"OK, the power's your. Run wild. Not like it will change me being stuck here in this mess of a mind. Nor any of the other spirits that had to give their power to your friends." The wolf boy muttered.

"'Mess of a mind?' I resent that." Yu said, offended. "And now that I know this power is yours, I don't think that I can just run around using it as I please."

"I don't really care. It's basically my soul. I can't move on, but does that really matter? I want to see where this goes anyway. Use it like you were before. Oh, and stop referring to the powers as 'demon.' They're Spirit Powers, Spirit Ears, so on and so forth." The teen closed his eyes. "Rie-chan's poking you. Dinner's ready." He sniffed the air. "It smells good."

"Wait, two things first. What's your name?" Yu asked.

The boy opened his eyes. "Alpha of my pack, or I was, Whitewind. And the second thing?"

Feeling stupid, he asked, "How do I get out?"

Whitewind sighed.

* * *

><p>Nanako walked upstairs to find out why Rie and Yu had yet to come down for dinner. It had been 5 minutes now. She found Rie poking Yu's unmoving body, yelling, "Wake up, lazybones!"<p>

Yu's eyes popped open. He looked at Rie and then Nanako, who was standing by the door. "I, um, dosed off."

"Um, while sitting up? I think that's that not a good sign." Rie muttered.

"It probably isn't." Yu replied, getting up, sniffing the air. "The food smells good. Let's go get some now, before it gets too cold."

The two females silently decided to not question what just happened.

* * *

><p><strong>Whitewind. I got that name from a 'your wolf name' quiz. I figure that Yu is more of a wolf than a cat, as I imagine the ears to be. Maybe that will change. *Wink wink*<strong>

**I also wonder what kind of animal everyone should been. Yu's a wolf, Naoto seems like a cat, but for everyone else, I can't seem to find a good eared and tailed animal that would work with them. Yosuke's probably a wolf too, but everyone else, I don't know enough about them to do that sort of thing. Maybe another quiz will work...**

**Ah tell me what you think, people. Please, that will really help me out if it's a good animal. It has to have ears and a tail though, so don't say a dragon or something.**


	34. More Insight Related To The Spirit Power

**OK****, a somewhat short chapter today, but I'm happy with what I managed here.**

* * *

><p><strong>It appears that Japanese wolves are extinct. Dude, talk about brutal. <strong>

**Oh, and this may feel random, but I love Alice's Restaurant. Everyone taking a step back, and then something else is said, and they all move back. Anyone know of the Group W Bench?**

* * *

><p>Chapter 34<p>

(25th) (Monday)

At school, before class, a female student ran in, yelling out to the other students, "The results have been posted!"

Those who knew that they failed groan unhappily.

Down a floor, looking at the results showed that Yu took the top score and Yukiko was right under him. Chie and Yosuke weren't in the bottom 10 because of the 5 students that didn't finish the test as a whole and 5 other students that were somehow worse than the two.

Quickly, Yu scanned the first years, and found that Rise was in the bottom 5, and Kanji beat her, as he was in the bottom 20. Naoto was in the top 10, as to probably be expected.

After school was over, and everyone had gathered in the second year's classroom, Yosuke started to plan for the summer. "Hey, I should have enough money to buy me a new scooter soon. Why don't we go to the beach or something?"

"Wait, you're going to get a scooter? Why not go for a motorcycle so that you can get a girlfriend and have her ride with you?" Rise suggested.

"He can't work up the money before summer's over." Yu informed her. "This will be his second one too. Hanako broke his first one when she jumped on it. Parts flew everywhere."

Yosuke looked pained. "Don't remind me."

"I like the idea, but us first years can't get our licenses 'til next year." Kanji mentioned.

"Right, but you kept up with us all the way to Okina," Yu reminded him. "I think you can deal with getting to the beach. And Teddie can be dragged along as luggage so long as he doesn't move."

"If all else fails, we could always stick him in a pair of roller-skates and drag him along." Chie suggested. Yukiko lightly snorted in laughter as she imagined that.

"I'm 16, so I can take my test actually." Rise informed them.

"That's great!" Yosuke said cheerfully. "Better get cracking on those books."

"Is it really that hard?" Rise asked.

"Oh, it totally is." Yu joked. "Even with 5 days of studying, you probably still wouldn't know half the answers."

Rise seemed to be having trouble figuring out if he was serious or not. "Fine, I think that I'll just ride with Senpai then."

"No can do, Rise-chan." Naoto spoke. "So long as he has a scooter, you aren't allowed to seat with him."

"Oh fine, I'll get the stupid license then." Rise complained.

"What about you, Naoto-kun?" Yosuke asked. "You're effectively part of our group. You coming?"

"I'm 15, and I'm sure not going to bike all the way there like what Kanji seems to be planning on doing." She refused.

Yu motioned with his finger for her to lean closer. Slightly confused, she did what he requested. "I'm going to get a motorcycle by the time that we go to the beach. You can ride with me. Better than Rise, I say." He whispered.

Naoto shrugged, whispering back, "Depends. Are you likely to crash?"

"Nah, I've tested the thing once or twice. It's not that bad, once you get used to it." Yu replied.

"To be honest, I'm frightened that your uncle is allowing you to get one. Or are you buying it behind his back?"

"He knows. I'm quite shocked as well, really. But he didn't have any objections so long as I paid for it myself, which is easy with the money I got from my job tutoring Shu."

"What are you guys talking about?" Suddenly Rise was there, causing Yu to jump in a sudden fright, smacking his knee on the desk.

Yu clutched his knee. "Rise, don't jump into something like that if we're whispering! There was a reason that we were doing that! Motherfucker, that hurt!" He swore.

"Wow, good job Rise-chan, you hurt the Alpha!" Yosuke snarled.

"You sound like a wolf Beta. Always there for the Alpha." Chie commented.

"Nah, he's more like a dog." Naoto observed. "Dogs never grow up mentally. They're generally as smart as a 3 week old wolf pup. That's why dogs can be really aggressive. It's a common defense mechanism for young animals."

"Yeah, that describes him perfectly then." Yukiko said, looking at Yosuke's annoyed face.

"Can you stop comparing me to animals!?" He yelled.

"Well, technically, we all are a part of one. Though they seem to be more on the cat side than anything else." Kanji brought a good point.

"Oh, that reminds me!" Yu suddenly shouted. In a quieter voice, he started his story. "Yesterday, about 20 minutes before dinner, I was trying to channel my power. You know, to hide my ears, and I came into contact with the spirit that gave me the power to begin with. He has ears too, and a tail, but they're more wolf-like. He called himself Whitewind. He was rather rude, but then again, he was stuck inside of me as just a mind. His soul is my power. Also, apparently, you know how we were calling them Demon Powers, Form, ext.? Well, he says that they are Spirit Powers, Form, ect. He also called my mind a mess."

Everyone wasn't sure how to react. Under normal circumstances, that would be a funny joke, but anything about the ears weren't a laughing matter. "So then we have spirits living inside our brain!?" Rise yelled.

"Well, he did mention friends. I'll try and contact him later tonight." Yu replied.

"Can't he contact you though?" Yosuke asked.

Yu shook his head. "I don't know why, but he isn't able to talk to me unless I do something to allow contact."

"I'm tired of this talk!" Rise yelled. "It's making me depressed that I can't even use my powers in the slightest. Let's talk about the beach! Who wants to see who in a swimsuit?"

"I've already seen who I want to see, and got kicked in the river where King Moron was upchucking, so I think that answers that." Yosuke groaned as the memory resurfaced.

"I'm not sure, what about you, Yukiko?" Chie asked.

Yukiko thought for a second. "I'm not sure either."

"I really want to see Yu-senpai." Rise spoke. "What about you, Senpai?"

"Kanji, totally." He joked. Everyone took a step back. "That was a joke." And everyone stepped back to their original spots.

"Alright, Chie, Yukiko, Rise, why don't you guys go study for your license exams?" Yu suggested as he got up and stretched. "I'm going to go home and talk to Whitewind."

(In Yu's room…)

Yu sat down in the middle of his room; legs crossed in a meditation pose. Slowly, he closed his eyes and cleared his mind of all thoughts as he tried to remember how he contacted the wolf boy to begin with.

With some difficulty, he finally managed to worm his way over to the canine teen.

"Morning, Narukami." Whitewind greeted. "What do want to know about?"

"Finish things first, what is the easiest way to contact you?" Yu panted.

Whitewind chuckled. "How the hell should I know? You've contacted me twice now, figure it out!"

"I don't even know how I contacted you the first time, and this time was pretty much by sheer luck!" Yu yelled. He sighed. "Fine, I'll try and figure it out myself. Second thing, last time you mentioned friends. Are they spirits that are stuck in my friends?"

Whitewind nodded. "They are. I don't know their physical forms, therefore the animal they are, but they are there, in the same situation."

"So, if you're a wolf spirit, why do I have cat ears?" Yu asked.

"I've thought about that, and I figure that it's because you can't use my full powers yet. It's possible that after you access my full abilities, the ears form will change. Same with your friends I assume. Though your friend, Rise, I'm not sure if her ears can change. Even if she does gain access to the soul of the spirit that is inside her, does she need it? She probably can't use its full abilities anyway."

"We'll see about that. Knowing her, she'll be determined to use it to its full potential." Yu replied.

Whitewind stared blankly for a second. "Your phone beeped." He informed Yu.

"Oh, yeah give me a second." He exited the mindscape, which he found was a lot easier than entering, and checked his phone. It was a message, and it read, "Hey there, want to go to the city with me?" It was from Junko. Yu sighed and tossed the phone behind him onto the couch.

Five minutes later, Yu was finally back in the mindscape. "Junko Enoshima, huh? God, she's annoying." Whitewind complained. "Good thing that you called her parents. Speaking of which, when are they going to get here?"

Yu shrugged. "I don't know. They should be here soon though. I hope. Maybe I should call them."

Whitewind nodded. "Good idea. I don't know why, but she is just one big ball of obnoxious to me."

"Right, I should do that soon. Though this is a little random, is there any other way to talk to you? Entering a mindscape isn't very efficient."

"After you gain access to my full powers, then we'll see what differences come about, and then maybe we'll see how things change. No go call that girl's parents up and drag them over here if need be!"

Yu exited the mindscape again and got up, walking over and sitting on the couch where his phone was lying. He flipped it open and looked through his contacts. He located Junko's parent's number, and called them up. After about 5 rings, a female picked up. "Hello, who is this?"

"Hi, it's Narukami."

"Oh, the boy that called us up on our daughter's phone?"

Yu nodded, though she couldn't see it. "Yes, you kind of cut off abruptly late time we talked."

"That was my husband. He's a little pissed that she ran away. I apologize on his behalf."

Yu waved it off. "Don't worry about it. I get it. Though I'm curious to know how you plan to get her home."

"My husband is traveling to Inaba soon. With any luck, he should be there in about a week. No more than that unless the train crashes."

"Alright, thank you. Though I don't hang out with her too much, I'll try and make sure she doesn't kill anything in the meantime." He hung up.

"Hear that Whitewind?" He asked, effectively to himself. "Only about a week to go. Now I know that you have no choice in the matter, but I'm going to go read a book for the rest of the day."

* * *

><p><strong>Yep, only want Junko around long enough for some smaller things before her has to disappear.<strong>

**You know, if I had been smart, I probably could have found a way to shove Naoto's kidnapping before the summer. Now that I think about it, if I'm good, I still can. Not like I can really work on School Links, right? And only Kanji's link needs to be worked on before it's just story progression and everything. I might have to think about that.**

**More than likely, in regards to everyone's animal spirit thing, I think I'm going to go with Sora Kim's suggestion. You can see me joking around at the school portion of the chapter with Yosuke being more of a dog than a wolf, and now that I think about it, it really kind of fits.**

**So I'm thinking,**

** Teddie-bear (Obviously) **

**Yu-wolf, **

**Yosuke-dog, **

**Kanji-lion, **

**Naoto-some sort of cat,**

** Rise-rabbit, or some other passive animal (Deer maybe?) **

**Chie-tiger, **

**Yukiko-not sure (Fox seems a little out of place to me, then again she did call out to the fox expertly in her Social Link.)**

**Though this isn't final just yet, but it's getting somewhere.**


	35. The Worse Day In Yu's Inaba Life

**I decided that I was impatient, so Junko's going home early, and some other things that are tied in with it happen. Oh, and I make a joke about how police were call pigs or something a long time ago. My dad would sometimes see a cop car and yell, "I smell bacon!" So yeah, backstory is amazing.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 35<p>

(26th) (Tuesday)

Summer vacation would begin tomorrow! However, it would be raining for the rest of August, and possibly for most of the summer in general. Ah, Inaba, why must you rain all the goddamn time?!

They had a quick, though it really wasn't, the principal loved to hear the sound of his own voice apparently, assembly, and then they were released to do what kids to best. Pillage, rape, and leave people for dead.

…OK, not really.

Anyway, following our protagonist again, for some reason he was walking along the train station. The reason? He was following Naoto, who was walking Meinu. Said dog was sniffing the ground, reporting that another dog had been there recently. She asked Yu to convey the message to Naoto. He did, any got a strange look from her as a result.

Meinu returned to her sniffing as something caught Yu's eye. There was a man standing there, looking around, as though he wasn't sure what to do. He approached the man. "Morning there. I can tell you aren't from around here."

The man looked down at him. "Oh, good morning. Um, my daughter ran away, and a boy called and told us that she was here, though I'm not sure if that's true or not."

"Enoshima-san?" Yu asked.

"Oh, so you're the boy. You look familiar."

"I probably am. Your daughter got really friendly with me a couple weeks before I had to move again. I called your wife yesterday to see if you were really coming, and she said that it would take about a week."

Edoshima-san grimaced. "I'm sorry I cut you off like that. I was pissed. I took the express train here. Who knew they had any that traveled out here?"

Yu waved it off like he did with his wife. "Don't worry about it. I'm surprised that you didn't threaten to cut me open and chew on my entrails."

Enoshima-san chuckled. "No, I'm not that crazy. So, do you know where she is? I'm sorry, but I really don't want to be here." Enoshima-san asked.

"Yeah, I'll text her to meet us at the hill overlooking the town. Give me a second." Yu pulled out his phone and texted the girl. 'Hey, meet me at the hill overlooking the town in 5 minutes.' He closed his phone and waved at Naoto. "Hey, want to watch Junko leave?"

Naoto looked up from watching Meinu sniff the stairs. She nodded. "Sure, sounds interesting." She lightly tugged at Meinu's leash as a sign that they were leaving. Said dog happily followed her owner.

* * *

><p>(At the hill…)<p>

Junko wandered up the hill happily. She saw Yu leaning against the fence, looking up at the sky. Naoto was sitting on a nearby bench, eyes closed. Meinu was lying, asleep, some ways away. "Hey, Yu-kun!" She called out.

Yu moved his head to look at her. "Oh, you're late by 30 seconds. I was keeping track." With a straight face, he held up a stopwatch. It indeed read '00:05:30.' Naoto smiled.

Junko stared for a second. "I'm a little late. So what?"

"Nothing. I just wanted to give you a hard time." Yu's face suddenly turned serious as he pocketed the watch. "Now then, onto more important matters. Why did you run away from home?"

Junko put up an innocent act. "What do you mean?"

Yu crossed his arms. "You're lying. You know how I know?"

Junko shook her head. She then gasped as her father revealed himself from behind a tree. "You called my father?!" She screeched. "So that was what you were doing that day! You sent your girlfriend to distract me so you could steal my phone and call them!"

"You certainly figured that out fast." Naoto spoke, not moving from her spot.

Junko growled. "I come here to be with you, and this is what I get?!"

"You never even gave me any warning that you were coming here! You just suddenly popped up one morning and tried to get me to be your boyfriend again." Yu yelled back.

"Yeah, and it turns out that you have a girlfriend that you hardly even talk to last I saw."

"You hardly see me!"

The two launched into a long round of bickering, so Enoshima-san sighed and sat down next to Naoto, who glanced at him, before closing her eyes again and blocking out the noise…

And then that attempt was shattered as Junko yelled, "Fine, you love her so much, prove it!"

Naoto's eyes popped open as Yu's widen. "And how exactly do you propose we do that?!" They yelled simultaneously.

Junko said one word, "Kiss."

Naoto jumped up from her seat. "Hang on now!"

"On the lips." Junko demanded; leaving little room for debate since the father was watching with a bemused expression, and wasn't much help.

Naoto moved to take a step back, but ended up falling back onto her previous spot on the bench. Yu watched her with slight amusement at her sudden change in demeanor.

He took a seat next to her, lightly chuckling at her reaction. "You don't watch many romantic movies, do you?"

"Do you!?" She shot back, her face slowly turning red.

"Chick flicks can actually be really funny at times. Trust me, I've been sucked into watching one too many by now." He replied, and Naoto scooted further away from him. He leaned closer, whispering, "Do you want Junko to remain here for the rest of the summer? Maybe until I have to fucking leave?!"

"N-no." Naoto stuttered. She glanced over at Junko, who glared at her, as in to say, 'Hurry the fuck up!' She looked back at Yu, who looked just as grim as she felt.

"Trust me when I say that this was not what I was expecting from this day. Or my whole time while Junko was in Inaba in general." He whispered. "Now can we get this over with? We won't be able to leave unless you're willing to jump the fence, but that will be stupid, and you'd probably kill yourself."

"Tell me again why you choose me for this?"

"Just shut up and do it already! Or were you lying this whole time?" Junko yelled.

Naoto looked pleadingly at Yu if she could just tell the crazy girl the truth. "Not any chance." He told her, connecting their lips.

He made sure that it was short, but just long enough that Junko had no choice than believe in the lie. When he pulled away, Naoto instantly made sure to avoid eye contact with him, so instead she fixed her gaze on Junko.

"Happy?" She asked.

Junko glared. "You fucking liars." Yu whipped his head over to look at the female, stunned that she figured it out. "You lied to me! I can tell!" She marched over, slapping Yu with enough power to knock him off the bench. Her father got up, but she glared at him in a way that frightened him into slowly sitting back down. She fixed her gaze then on the only one left. Jumping the fence was becoming a really tempting option. "I never liked you. You stole away my Yu-kun. But apparently he never liked you to begin with! Why did you lie!?"

Yu stood. "It's because you are absolutely crazy!"

"Why you little!" Junko yelled. Out of nowhere, she drew a knife.

"I hope you know my uncle's a detective, and you are going to get in some real serious trouble for this later." Yu informed her, taking a step back, trying to keep his calm.

"So what? I've just drawn a knife. If I'm right, the most I'm going to get charge with is assault. I'll only get charged with battery if I do anything to actually harm someone." She gently toyed with the knife. This was starting to look familiar to what happened when Rie made herself known.

Yu held his hands up, curling them into fists. "I will hurt you if need be." He turned to Enoshima-san. "Go get the police if you will." The man jumped up and ran away to find some bacon. "I'm not fucking around now. I can kill you in one swipe if I want to."

Junko sneered. "What about your weapon? You can't kill me it a 'swipe' with nothing to swipe with."

Yu held up his hand, uncurling it and awakening his Spirit Powers, keeping it to a minimum, but allowing enough to leak out for his fingernails to grow, as well as his fangs. He smirked at the girl's shocked expression.

"What the hell?" Naoto asked. "Why the hell haven't you said anything about that before?"

"I'll explain after we get out of this mess." Yu promised.

Junko ran forward with a yell and slashed. Yu stepped back and watch the blade pass harmlessly pass him. She continued to slash uselessly at him, walking around in circles. It would look like a dangerous dance to a bystander. Actually, it pretty much was.

"My turn." Yu said as Junko ran out of breath and was worn out. He had no intention of harming her, only possibility ripping her shirt or something. She was one of those people that would cry and never do something again if it got a stain on her skirt. So he hoped that she would learn her lesson to not mess with Yu Narukami if he did that one simple act.

Only using two fingers, to avoid as much risk of injure as possible, he swiped, and Junko yelled out, "Meatshield!" She grabbed Naoto from her seat and put her in the way of the attack.

Yu had no way of stopping the attack. Though in the one second he had, he choose to gauge were his claws would hit. Considering the height difference and she was just placed in front of the mad female, he guessed that her face was a good estimate. Eyes if he was really unlucky.

And… He was seriously unlucky.

Though he hardly scraped her, there were two thin red lines across her eyelids and the bridge of her nose. She slumped to the ground with a pained expression.

Enoshima-san chose then to appear, with Dojima as his officer of choice. First thing he did was look at the scratches on Naoto's face. He looked up at Yu's claws, and with a slightly frightened expression, said, "You have a lot of explaining to do Narukami. Now while I clean up the mess with that girl, get Naoto-kun to a doctor if you would be so kind."

Yu nodded numbly and picked her up, running as fast as humanly possible to the hospital. At said place, some nurses freaked the fuck out at the fact that Yu add claws and it looked like someone tried to scratch Naoto's eyes out. She was gone in a second.

Yu fell into a nearby chair. "How did this day go so wrong?" He asked himself. "It was so good to begin with. It's fucking summer and I'm sitting here wondering how the hell an amazing year where I rediscover why friends are important screwed the fuck up." He looked at his watch. "All before 5 o'clock." Indeed, it was 10 'til 5.

He started ranting slightly to himself, cursing Junko for screwing up an otherwise perfect year. Someone tapped him on the shoulder. He looked up and found that his uncle was standing over him, looking very concerned, probably because he was talking to himself. That, or the claws that he had yet to clip.

The older man took a seat next to his nephew. "Well, that Junko girl is on her way back to whatever city that she came from. In handcuffs I might add."

Yu smiled. "She deserves it. She's really crazy. She drew a knife on us."

"And you grew claws that rival a wolf's. Mind explaining?" His uncle asked.

"I have to explain it to Naoto as well. Next time you guys are in the same room, I'll give you the explanation." Yu promised.

A nurse walked up to them. "Are either of you friends of Shirogane-san?" Yu nodded. "Right, there is good news and bad news." Yu felt ready to punch a hole in the wall. "The good news is we suspect there will be no loss of eyesight. Bad news is that she won't be able to see for a guesstimated week, give or take a couple days." Yu sighed, cursing himself this time. "She's awake if you want to see her."

Yu got up. "Sure." He followed the nurse, Dojima not far behind.

Inside of the room, Dojima took off to go to the bathroom, as apparently he was going to do so when Enoshima-san ran over yelling about his daughter turning homicidal.

Yu moved over to the bed she was lying on. There were bandages covering her eyes. He couldn't tell if she was awake or not, as she wasn't moving other than the slight rise and fall of her chest as she breathed. "Um, are you awake?"

Naoto jolted. She turned her head in his direction. "Yeah, I was just thinking. And I figured one thing out."

"What's that?" Yu dared to ask.

"I don't like the dark. I don't like it at all." She told him.

The two both turned their heads at the sound of the bathroom door opening. Dojima walked out and sat down on a nearby chair. "So, time to explain what you were hiding."

"Alright, I owe it to you guys to let you know."

Yu launched into a story that started around where he first jumped into the Junes TV, and ended around where they saved Rise. Course, he left out what Rise's dungeon was like. He had a good (or bad, depending on how you look at it) feeling that his uncle would go bat-shit crazy if he heard it.

"That's just great, why were you hiding it from us?" Dojima asked.

"It's kind of like speaking dog. I forgot that I can do it really." Yu admitted.

"Oh crap," Naoto sighed. "What happened to Meinu?"

"Shit!" Yu swore. "Uncle, can you go get her dog? It's a pure white mutt." Dojima rolled his eyes and got up.

Once he was out of the room, Yu immediately started to try and contact Whitewind so he could figure out how to prevent this sort of thing in the future. Inside of the mindscape, Yu voiced what he wanted to know.

Whitewind shrugged. "How the hell should I know? That's my soul; I never used it to attack someone. You're on your own. Oh, and your mate's crying."

"I think that it's pretty obvious that she isn't my mate. Nor my girlfriend." He huffed and exited.

True to the wolf's word, Naoto was calling out to him. "Dammit, I know you're there Yu-kun. Answer me! You can't just steal away my eyesight and then ignore me!"

Yu instantly felt a pang of guilt as it hit him that he crippled a friend. "Sorry. I don't notice things around me when I'm talking to Whitewind. I probably should have thought about that."

"You think?" She sighed. "Please, tell me next time you plan to space out."

"Right sorry." Yu apologized. He sighed. "I didn't think that Junko would block me with a meat shield."

"Why were you swiping at her in the first place?"

"Last I checked, she was the kind of person to cry over a stain on her skirt, so I figured that I may be able to distract her if I ripped her shirt. Course, that didn't work very well, but apparently she's going home in handcuffs now."

The door opened, and Dojima walked in, Meinu following behind him. Said dog ran over as soon as Dojima let go of her leash, and made herself at home on the bed. Yu laughed as she said, "This is really nice."

Then Adachi walked in. "God, it's just a party over here. Dojima-san, they need you over at the station. Man, it was a pain tracking you down." Dojima sighed in annoyance. He had just sat down, and had to get back up now. He was gone after a minute though. "So what happened here?"

Yu told him a shortened version of the story. "Crazy girl used normal girl as a meat shield."

"Ah, well, you should get home. No doubt Nanako's wondering where you are. She hasn't heard a peep from you all day, huh?"

"Ah, crap. See you guys to tomorrow." Yu got up and ran out the door.

* * *

><p>(At home…)<p>

Yu called out a semi-cheerful hello. Nanako greeted him, and Rie did so as well after a second. He found them cooking dinner, as they generally did around 6 o'clock.

Unfortunately, Yu wasn't exactly very hungry, so he retreated to his room as soon as he saw that it was to rain throughout the night. Therefore, the Midnight Channel was to be on.

* * *

><p>(About 30 seconds until midnight…)<p>

Yu stopped reading his book as his watch alarm beeped. He quickly shut it up, and put his book away. He then positioned himself right in front of his rather small TV.

10, 9, 8, 7… He slowly counted down to the sound of the ticking second hand on his analog clock. The clock finally struck midnight, and the screen lit up, and then it went dark again. Yu stared at the screen in confusion. He heard breathing though, so he could only assume that there was someone in there without any forewarning. He called up Yosuke while still watching to see if anything would change in the final 10 seconds.

Yosuke picked up. "I assume this is about the midnight channel?"

"Yeah. I can't tell if there really is someone in there or not. Let's enter tomorrow anyway."

"Agreed." Yosuke hung up, so Yu fell onto his futon and felt like crying. That was by far the worse day he's gone through in Inaba.

* * *

><p><strong>The first version of this was really different. There was still the meat shield aspect, but it was just with some generic punks that Dojima ordered Naoto to watch for the day for whatever reason. And it was around the time that she was to be kidnapped. I think you can see where this is going. I think that I like this version better because it was with a character, that admittedly, I'm not fond of, but she was someone that I based off of Danganronpa a little, and considering I know little about that game, I think the strange homicidal... I think I lost the point of what I was talking about. Whatever. TV next time. <strong>


	36. Pitch Black Maze And A Good Shadow Fight

**Realized at one point or another that C. 36 didn't end up the way I had wanted originally, as I mostly type whatever just pops into my head for that moment. In fact, it was so off that I have decided to retype those sections.**

**I've decided that I've been annoyed long enough with the fact that this thing says I have one chapter more than I actually do, so I'm taking that one down. Maybe one day I will do something with it.**

Chapter 36.5

* * *

><p>(Junes….)<p>

Yu looked at his group. "Everyone catch the Midnight Channel last night?"

"Something came on?" Kanji asked.

"Yeah, the screen was black the whole time." Yukiko stated.

"I know, but I heard breathing and that sure as fuck wasn't mine, and I'm pretty sure Rie wasn't watching me." Yu muttered. "Let's just check, just to make sure, alright?"

Everyone sighed but decided that taking 5 minutes to be safer than sorry was the best route.

* * *

><p>(TV…)<p>

Rise called out Himiko, searching around to see if a non-Shadow presence could be found. After awhile, she pushed away the visor that had covered her eyes. "There is someone in here. I can't tell who though. It's really familiar though."

"A familiar presence? What do you mean?" Yu asked.

"I don't know. It's someone that I know, and have spoken to recently, but that's all I can really tell. Since everyone of our group is here, I can't figure out who it could possibly be." Rise seemed confused as she tried to make sense of the familiar feeling.

"When was the last time you figure that you met this person?" Yu asked, also trying to figure it out.

"Um, three days ago, after school, I figure." Rise replied.

"So, after we all met up and discussed going to the beach?" Chie questioned.

"This is like a game of 'Guess Who.'" Kanji muttered.

Yu snapped his fingers. "I know! We just need to turn this into a game!" Everyone stared at their leader like he was crazy. "What I mean is; we turn it into a game of "Guess Who.' We each take turns asking Rise if she believes that it's a male or female, the year they're in, etcetera. Thank you Kanji."

Everyone nodded as they started to understand his logic. They all sat down in a circle, Himiko kneeling behind Rise for when she was needed. And so Yu pulled out his Arcana notebook and flipped to the very back page, which was going to be unused otherwise.

"OK, I'll start with something simple." Yosuke started. "Male or female?"

"…Female, I think." Yu noted it down, putting a question mark after 'female,' under the info that said that Rise last saw her after school three days ago.

"Me next!" Chie yelled. "They are going to Yasogami, right?" Rise nodded. "Do you know the year?"

"It has to be a first year. I don't know anyone above that well enough to recognize their very presence. Except you guys." Rise answered.

"Let's move on to some minor things to try and piece together a picture." Yu suggested. "Eye color?"

"Blue, I think." Rise answered.

"Height?"

"Shorter than Kanji."

"That's everyone." Yu pointed out.

"Right, um, shorter than me, I believe."

"You sound really unsure."

"I'm doing this all off of a presence, do you expect a whole lot better?"

"Not really. Hair length?"

"Short, I think."

"Ok, so it's a short female in her first year of high school. She has blue eyes and shortish hair. The last time you interacted with her was before you left the school on the 25th, right?" Rise nodded. "But you left the school with us, therefore meaning that either she talked to you before you came to see us, or was there with us while we were talking about going to the beach."

"I only did my typical 'fending off of the boys' before I went to see you guys." Rise informed them.

"And on the Midnight Channel nothing appeared in the sense that we couldn't see anything. Can you try to find the general direction that the girl is in?"

Rise scanned. "No, but I'm getting really close now."

"Ok, so that means that we need to find out a little bit more. Do you know her in any psychological way?" Yu questioned.

"Um, I believe that she was the type to always do her work, regardless of how troublesome it might be. Uhg, this is going to gnaw at me until we figure it out."

Yu turned to Kanji. "Do you know any females that Rise talks to that is in a first year?"

"Only Naoto-kun." Kanji answered.

Everyone's eyes widened. "How the hell did I forget her?" Rise asked as she lightly smacked her forehead. She called out Himiko to scan for the specific person.

"That explains the darkness on the Midnight Channel too." Yu muttered.

"What?" All but Rise asked their leader.

"Yesterday in an accident, I scratched her eyes. She won't be able to see for at least another week. Darkness is all she sees now." Yu told them.

"Why would that be the thing that her dungeon takes the form of though?" Kanji asked. "It doesn't have anything to do with the repressed emotions that the rest of the dungeons take the shape of."

"I'm not sure." Yu replied, tilting his head to the side and putting on a thinking face. "Maybe it ties into what her Shadow will manifest as. Or it could be that yesterday she told me that she figured something out. It was, 'I don't like the dark. I don't like it at all.'"

"Didn't you cause her blindness though?" Kanji asked, not knowing how guilty that made his leader feel. Regardless, he nodded. "Hey, dude, at least her Shadow probably won't say that she hates you forever or some shit."

"Probably?" Yu asked.

"Guys, just, shut up before I loss it." Rise demanded. "I've found her. She's in that direction." She pointed to the west, and Yu immediately ran off. "Yu-kun, wait!" Rise yelled as Himiko disappeared and the rest of the team took off after him.

After a minute, Yu found a black hole. (Not a real one that you would find in space, just a literal hole in the area that was black.) "Is that it?" He asked a panting Rise.

Rise nodded, bending over and gasping for breath, as the rest of the team did.

"While you guys catch your breath, I'm going to scout out the inside." Yu jumped through the hole, being swallowed up by the blackness. Too bad that he wasn't aware that Rise was about to tell him that it was pitch black in there.

The now blind Yu wandered around the area that he was now standing in for a minute, before realizing that there was absolutely no way that he was going to get anywhere without Rise's and Himiko's help. So he wandered back the way he came. At least, he thought he did.

After a minute of hopeless wandering, Rise called out to him on Himiko's built in communicator. "Before you jumped in here, I was going to tell you that you'd get hopelessly lost without me. Now look at what you've done!"

"Um, I really can't." Yu decided to be a smartass at that moment.

"I know that! I honestly can't tell where you are. You're further in than I expected. This sounds like a joy trying to find you. Stay there unless a Shadow appears!"

"And if a Shadow appears?"

"Run the hell away, duh. You can't fight unable to see anything."

Yu stayed in the same spot, lightly chatting with Rise until he heard a noise from his left. "There's a Shadow at my left."

Rise was silent for a second. "You're facing south. According to Himiko's map that's keeping an eye on you so I know if you run away. There's only a path to behind you. The other way is blocked by the Shadow. It appears that getting away will be simple. Now move, it's getting close."

Yu took off, running to the north, until he tripped on some stairs. "Rise, I found the stairs. I'm going on ahead."

He was gone just as Rise was about to tell him that she couldn't communicate with him if he was on a different floor.

On floor 2, Yu continued his wandering around. Not long after Rise managed to guide the rest of the team onto the floor, Yu found the stairs, though this time he sat on the steps and awaited his friends for a minute, allowing them to catch up a little before continued on his own.

Not even 30 seconds on that floor, he ran into a bad predicament. He ran down one way to escape from a Shadow that was chasing him, and he ran into a dead end, which contained a Shadow as well. He laughed nervously. "Shit." He backed away from the new Shadow, only to hear a noise behind him, from the previous Shadow.

He reached into his pocket to see if he had a Goho-m. Sadly, he forgot to stock up after Rise's dungeon. And thus he decided on the next best option. Jump over them.

…OK, it wasn't the BEST option, but it seemed better than trying to outmaneuver them. He backed up unless he was almost touching the one that hung out in the dead end, and took a running leap at the other one. Sadly, he misjudged its position, and heard a rather sickening splat as he landed on it.

The remaining Shadow squealed in terror and fled as best as it could after seeing, (Or hearing, could it see?) its comrade killed in Yu's leap of faith. It smacked soundly into a wall and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Yu shuffled his feet around a little on the Shadow's corpse. Slowly, he reached down and touched his shoes, feeling disgusting moist goof rub off on his fingers. "Gross. I never want to step on another Shadow ever again. I wonder how Rise and the others are doing?" He mainly wondered that so he could hopefully forget the goo on his shoe, but it did perk his interest on how his friends were fairing.

* * *

><p>(With the rest of the team…) (A minute earlier…)<p>

"Um, to the left." Rise instructed her blind comrades.

Everyone obedient followed her instructions, not that they had a choice.

Rise shook her head. "No good. It's another dead end." Everyone groaned as they turned around. "Honestly, how has Yu gotten to the 3rd floor already?" A red dot appeared on her map. She stopped, causing someone to run into her from behind. Who it was, she wasn't quite sure. "It's a Shadow. It's coming toward us!"

"But there's a wall behind us!" Chie yelled.

"That's our only option!" Yosuke yelled. "If we run faster than it, maybe it will give up and we can slip by it later! They aren't exactly bright, after all." A small dot on Rise's map fled the way they came, and quickly, the all other dots followed, the red dot giving chasing.

With their backs against the wall, everyone waited to hear what they hoped to hear. That the Shadow gave up. But it hadn't, and was about strike.

"Yosuke, you're our leader when Yu isn't around, get us out of this mess!" Chie yelled.

"I can't do anything without sight!" Yosuke yelled back helplessly.

Chie screeched as the Shadow started to poke her leg, seemingly unsure of what its enemy was, and if it was the enemy at all.

"Alright you fucking freak!" Yosuke yelled, gaining the Shadow's attention. "Stop… whatever you're doing to Chie-chan!"

The Shadow began to move to Yosuke, who backed away in fear as he realized that he just put himself in harm's way.

"Shit, shit!" He shouted in a panic. "Hey, don't I have a spirit hanging out somewhere in my head?! Now would be a nice time to save me!" There was no response from any sort of creature that he may have been hoping to hear. "OK, don't answer me! I-I'll fight him on my own!"

Shaking, Yosuke raised his fists, not trusting his hands to find their way to any of his weapons. And the Shadow attacked.

Without knowledge of that happened to their temporary leader, the rest of the group heard snarling. Rise quickly analyzed the situation, and found the Yosuke now had an aura of strength around him. It was actually more of a green-orange shell. It incased him, making his claws sharper, more deadly.

Through analyzing, Rise only got a still image of him, though she was happy that she didn't have to see the ensuing killing of the Shadow. It screeched and tried to run away, evident by the red dot on her map, and the little Yosuke dot chasing after it, pouncing and probably ripping it to shreds. Then he came back.

"That was awesome." He said, throwing a couple punches at the air as the surge of power dispersed. "Man, I wish it wouldn't disappear."

"What did you do?!" Chie yelled. She then softened slightly. "Um, thanks for saving me."

"Anytime you need it, Chie-chan." Yosuke smiled, placing his hand on her shoulder. Chie swatted it away quickly.

"How'd you do that, senpai?" Kanji asked. "What did you do?"

"I have no idea."

"I going to take a stab in the dark here and say that it was out of necessity in order to protect his friends." Rise figured.

"God, everything is a 'stab in the dark' with you these days." Chie joked.

Everyone shared a good laugh.

Soon, they found the stairs, where they hoped that they would finally catch up to Yu.

* * *

><p>(Back with Yu…)<p>

Slowly, Yu trudged along the path he was walking down, trying desperately to ignore the squishing that came from his feet as the guts of the Shadow that he landed on earlier came into contact with the floor with each and every step.

"How much longer is this dungeon going to go on!?" He yelled aloud. "God dammit Naoto, of all the things this place had to take the form of!" In his yelling, he completely forgot to feel where he was going, and ran straight into a wall. He yelled in frustration. "I fucking hate this place!" He took another step, this time to the right, hearing the squishing of the goop once again. "I just had to try and jump over the Shadow, didn't I?!"

It was possible that he was just losing his mind with no one to talk to, but slowly the calm leader began ranting on his situation.

"Senpai, who are you talking to?" Rise's voice rang out.

"Rise, is that you?!" Yu called out desperately.

"Um, yeah. Why the hell do you sound so frantic? Don't tell me that a Shadow's cornered you!"

"N-no. That happened, but I tried to jump over it. I misjudged and now there's Shadow on my shoes and I'm lonely!"

"Gross! There's Shadow remains on your shoes?!"

Technically, he replied, but he almost unknowingly, at this point, walked up the stairs.

After he realized that he did that, he tried to find the way that he came so that he could have some company, but he instead got lost again.

"I took five fucking steps! How am I lost again!?" Yu fumed.

"Who's there?!" A strikingly familiar voice called out.

Yu whipped around in the direction the person of whom talked.

"I heard you talk! You can't be one of them, whatever the hell they are. Come on, speak!" The person yelled again.

"Man, of all the places that could have formed, why is it a black hole? Naoto, my dear, you're only making saving you a pain in the ass. You're lucky that I care about you enough to go through this hell-hole myself." Yu said, walking over to her.

"Who are you?!" She yelled out, apparently so freaked out that she couldn't recognize his voice, and judging from the noises she was making, was backing away.

"Wow, can't believe you forgot me. Come on now. It starts with a Y…" Yu reminded her.

"Yu-kun?" She stopped backing away, starting to finally recognize his voice.

"There you go!" He lightly applauded her for the hell of it. "Ready to get out of here?"

"And where is 'here?' I remember you left, and I think I fell asleep after that. Next thing I know, some goop monster is poking me." She explained.

"Welcome to the TV world, my dear. Population-none who are sane." Yu joked.

"I can tell." She walked towards him, wrapping her arms are him in a hug. "I don't like it in here. Please take me home."

"I can't see anything, so we're going to have to wait for the others to get here. I forgot to stock up on returning items after saving Rise." Yu told her, slowly sitting down, dragging Naoto down with him. "I wonder how they're doing. I kind of abandoned them at the entrance, and they've been behind since."

* * *

><p>(With the others…)<p>

"Man, I wonder what happened to Yosuke-senpai back there." Rise wondered.

"I don't know. I kind of want to know what he looked like." Chie commented.

"Here, stop for a second." Rise said. She ordered Himiko to place the visor over her friend's head and show her the image she got of Yosuke's temporary transformed state.

"Oh, can I do that?!" Chie got excited.

"I don't even know what I did. What makes you think you can?" Yosuke said.

"What makes you think I _can't_?" Chie shot back.

Before Yosuke could retort, he tripped. "Stairs." He groaned.

"I think we figured that out." Chie snickered as she stepped over him.

On the next floor, the group wanted around for more than long enough. Finally, they found Yu, and Naoto as well.

"That took you long enough to find us. Alright Teddie, get us the hell out of here!" Yu demanded.

"Easy as pie, Sensei-knight! Bearsona!" Teddie called out his Persona and suddenly the group was outside the hole that led to the dungeon. The sudden light blinded them all, even Naoto, who's eyes were covered.

"Well, I say we get the fuck out of here, before Naoto's Shadow appears and tries to kill us all." Yu suggested, and everyone quickly agreed, speed walking to the Exit TV. After about five steps, Yu picked up Naoto and quickened his pace.

At the Exit TV, everyone jumped in. Yu was last, with Yosuke, standing next to him. The two males stared at each other for a second until Yu said, "Your ears are different."

Yosuke put a hand on his head. "Huh, would you look at that."

"You have any idea of how that happened?"

"Hardly. Though I did kind of activate a super version of our powers though. That might be it."

"It probably is." Yu looked down. "Your tail's different too."

Yosuke looked at it too. "Oh, that's just amazing. My parents were questioning my choice of belt before. Course, it was my tail. Maybe now they'll lay off." Suddenly excited, Yosuke jumped through the portal.

"Ready to get the flock out of here?" Yu asked Naoto.

"I've been ready since the minute I arrived."

Yu smiled and stuck his foot out to put it in the TV… and hit a barrier.

"Oh, for the love of…" He turned around, looking for the particular Shadow that put up the barrier.

"Yu-kun?" Naoto questioned.

"There's a Shadow blocking our exit. I assume that it's yours." Yu informed her.

"Mine?"

"Yeah. You remember how I told you about a person's Shadow trying to kill them when the fog transfers to the real world? If you deny them, the same happens, and they never go down without a fight. It looks like it won't let us leave either."

Naoto tensed up. "Didn't the others leave though? I thought taking down a person's particular Shadow was more than a one man job."

"It is. I can only hope Yosuke can get back through the front with Teddie in tow. Otherwise, I fear that we may be screwed." Slowly, Yu put Naoto down, and put his claws on, whipping his katana from its sheath. "Alright, I know you're out there! Come out, now!"

"God, you're just like your uncle. Demanding and bossing me around." The Shadow appeared from behind the Exit TV. Said Shadow was identical to its counterpart, the only part that could tell one another apart, the eyes, were covered all the same.

"Other than right there, I don't remember a time that I bossed you around or demanded something from you." Yu spoke to the Shadow, knowing that it really didn't make a difference which he spoke to. "Just get on with it so we can get out of here faster."

"I thought you would stall as much as possible until you're friends could come back." The Shadow seemed confused.

"We're either going to fight, or Naoto's going to accept you really quickly. It won't make much of a difference if my friends are here." Yu retorted. "Now, if you will, get on with it! Do you know the black hell I just went through?"

"And that brings us to subject one." The Shadow started. "What you've done, Narukami."

Yu looked at the ground. "Yeah, I know, you probably hate me for scratching your eyes out."

"It more than that!" The Shadow sounded irritated. "I've been stuck in this town, a slave to your damn uncle, because of you!"

"Technically, you didn't have to stay." Yu muttered.

"Yeah, well, pride is a strange thing. I leave no case unclosed. I'll only leave if any case I'm involved in has been finished."

"It's not like I meant for this to happen." Yu didn't look up from the ground.

The Shadow scoffed. "Honestly. How'd you even enter a TV at midnight? Surely you didn't actually walk downstairs and jump into the one located there?" She stopped him before he could answer. "I don't want to know. Let's just wrap this up. I'm going to say it, simple and clean. I hate your guts, Narukami."

"Hang on a second!" Naoto interjected. "I don't hate him!"

"It doesn't matter!" The Shadow yelled.

"Yes it does!" The real one yelled back. "It's like saying that I hate my grandfather because he ignored me after my parents died!"

"You did!" The Shadow was clearly frustrated. "You were almost driven to the point of suicide because of that fucker!"

"Yes, I _did_. Not anymore." Naoto said.

Yu listened to them, completely confused. The only thing that he understood really was that Naoto apparently hated him, and as a kid she had some… issues with her grandfather.

"OK, case in point, we have some serious issues we have to work out." Shadow Naoto muttered.

"Yeah." Naoto agreed. "I'm surprised Grandfather didn't send me to an anger management class. I did almost punch a hole in the wall." They both seemed lost in thought. "What were we talking about?"

"Um, we hate Narukami?"

"Um, no, you've got it wrong. As much as you seem to know about me, I don't think you're really me."

"So what I gather from that is you are denying me." Shadow Naoto guessed.

"I think?" The real one stopped and tried to figure out what was happening here.

"Whatever." The Shadow sighed and gathered power. Only one thing change visually. The bandages around her eyes fell off, revealing nasty scars that couldn't possibly be that bad in reality. She opened her eyes, and the striking yellow eyes showed themselves.

"So much for flashy transformations." Yu studied the Shadow.

"My real self can't even see me. What's the point of being flashy if I can't show it to someone who has a likely chance of surviving?" The Shadow replied.

"You saying you're going to kill me, and then throw Naoto through the Exit TV?" Yu tried to figure out what she meant.

"Does it matter?! Worry on the fact that you're going to die!" Shadow Naoto yelled, irritated.

"You and what power?" Yu asked.

"This." The Shadow replied simply and suddenly she disappeared.

Yu did a full 360, trying to find the creature.

"Over here, moron." Shadow Naoto whispered in his ear.

Yu whipped around, but found that she was gone. "So what, you can turn invisible?'"

"No, you would here my footsteps if I could." The Shadow replied, again behind him.

"And that means…" Yu asked, looking around, trying to not get jumped from behind.

"You can't put two and two together?" Naoto's Shadow was suddenly in front of him, a smirk on her face. "I'll give you a hint. You'll only beat me if you can run like the fucking wind!" She punched him in the gut, knocking the wind out of him before disappearing again.

"So you're just really fast." Yu coughed. "Big deal. I'll beat you all the same!" He called upon his Spirit Powers.

He looked around, awaiting his foe to appear. When she did, she leaned her back against his. He dropped his katana and swung around trying to claw her, but she was gone again, and he stumbled, falling to the ground.

Quickly, Yu looked through his Personas to see if any of them had anything to combat the surprising speed. He had been ignoring the Personas so much that he shouldn't have even searched. Man, he had to talk to Margaret about that later.

Then he noticed something. Down in the corner of his mind were two Personas. Black Frost and Yatagarasu, Personas he had fused at Margaret's request. They possessed moves that, while draining for him, as he barely used Persona skills, should turn the tables. He dispersed of his Spirit Powers to utilize them.

"Yatagarasu!" Yu yelled as he summoned the Sun Arcana Persona forth and crushed the card floating before him. The power was released, and the Persona wielder suddenly felt lighter.

Shadow Naoto came in for an attack. Yu swiftly spun out of the way, though he narrowly avoided the attack. She fell to the ground for a second.

"Black Frost!" Yu called the Persona forth and decreased the Shadow's agility.

The Shadow stood and glared at him. "What the hell did you just do?!"

"I put us on an even playing field. You're about as fast as I am now."

Shadow Naoto growled and ran at him, intending to punch him. Yu easily flipped her on her back. "Not so amazing without your speed, huh?"

The Shadow scrambled away in a panic. "I'll make this quick. I'm not going to drag this on." He grabbed his Katana off the floor. He ran forward, swinging the weapon. But the Shadow was gone. "What?!" He yelled as Shadow Naoto appeared again, kicking him in the face, sending him skidding across the floor.

"I hope you don't mind. I borrowed a Purifying Salt from you." She pulled out a bottle, labeled 'Purifying Water,' pouring it on Yu's head. "Oh, and that too." She threw the bottle away when it was empty.

"When…?" Yu asked, trying to stand up.

"I had a good feeling you would try some sort of shit, so I stole some things. I have to ask, why do you have Curse Paper that smells like a men's locker room?" She held it out to him.

"Because I found it there." Yu explained. Shadow Naoto dropped the paper immediately in disgust. Yu laughed. "Nah, I found it in the boy's bathroom."

"That's even worse!" Both the Naotos yelled at him.

"Yeah, I know." Yu laughed. He got up, but the Shadow knocked him down again. "OK, why aren't the others questioning my lack of return?"

Shadow Naoto looked around. "That's a good question."

"I bet they're just bickering." Yu guessed.

"I don't know them well enough to say. Though it is a little sad that bickering is the first thing you figure they're doing. OK, I need to focus." She lightly slapped herself before picking up the katana Yu dropped when he was kicked in the face, thrusting it down at him.

Yu rolled out of the way, jumping up to his feet. "I'm sore, but that doesn't mean I'm going to lie down and let you stab me. I don't care what you think about me, I'll do whatever it takes to protect my friends!"

Suddenly, a multi-colored skin covered him. It was almost like Jell-O. Kind of a solid, kind of a liquid. It was almost like fur, but the edges flicked around like flames.

Shadow Naoto smirked. "You couldn't beat me as a human, whatever makes you think that you can as a demonic freak of nature?"

Yu didn't reply. He simply snarled and glared at her.

Shadow Naoto smirked and shook her head, laughing lightly. "Don't think you can beat me." She shot forward, stabbing at him with the katana.

Yu easily dodged, punching the Shadow and stealing back the katana.

Shadow Naoto took a step back. "W-what? How did you dodge that?"

Yu twirled his katana around. "It appears I'm faster now."

They both stared at each other for a second, before darting forward. Shadow Naoto somehow managed to snatch the katana back, but Yu grabbed onto the blade with his left hand before she could use it. The metal claw encasing his hand under the fur-like-stuff protected him from any kind of harm.

With his free right hand, he slashed at Shadow Naoto, cutting open her abdomen.

Her mouth opened in a silent scream, and fell to the ground. The wound closed after the rest of the power left her.

Yu returned to Naoto's side as the fur dissolved into nothingness. "Yu-kun." Yu made himself comfortable enough leaning against a nearby rail so he could listen to the acceptance. Or denial. He didn't want to think about that though. "Um…" She seemed really unsure of what she was doing. "So, about what my Shadow said… I don't know where it got the idea that I hate you. I will admit that I'm not fond that my pride is keeping me from leaving, and now it doesn't seem like I have a choice. But I don't hate you."

"Liar." The Shadow spoke, getting up.

"No, I'm not!" Naoto yelled. "I don't understand where you are getting that from! The only thing I hate about him is those GOD DAMN EARS!"

Yu didn't feel all that surprised. He probably had that coming.

Naoto lowered her voice. "I don't hate you, Yu-kun. But those ears have kept me in Inaba, turned me into your uncle's slave. Because we have to keep it secret, I worry about what would happen to you if anyone found out about them. No one would believe the story about a world inside the TV... OK, I think I'm starting to understand how my Shadow thought that I just plain hated you."

The Shadow smiled. "I guess I was a little incorrect. At least we know one thing now. Yu-kun will do anything to protect the ones that he cares about, even if they say that they hate his guts." Yu nodded. The Shadow snapped her fingers, and turned into a Persona. It was an adorable midget with a laser sword.

"I'll have to remember to not get on your bad side, your Persona is a midget, but I fear that thing could cut me in half if it wanted." Yu said.

Naoto opened her mouth to say something, but then she fainted on the spot. Yu caught her before she hit the ground. "I guess that's not a surprise." He muttered to himself. He scooped her up in his arms, passing through the now barrier-free Exit TV.

* * *

><p>(At Junes…)<p>

On the other side, he found the others were bickering, mostly at Yosuke from the looks of it. "What are you guys yelling about?"

Everyone looked up. "Alpha, where were you?" Yosuke asked.

"You didn't notice I was gone?" Yu stared at them.

"I think we all lost track of time then Yosuke yelled something stupid." Chie told him.

"And what was that?" Yu dreaded the answer.

Chie opened her mouth to respond, but stopped. "I don't remember."

Yosuke snorted. "No wonder you do so horribly on tests. You can't even remember things that happened twenty seconds ago."

"Oh, like you're any better!" Chie yelled at him. "If I'm right, you did even worse than I did!"

"No, you were below me!" Yosuke reminded her.

Chie stopped to think. "You know, I think you're right."

Yu laughed. "Why were you bickering about it then? You ended up agreeing anyway."

The two glared at him. "Go, now!" They both commanded.

Yu rolled his eyes and complied.

* * *

><p>(Along the road Yu was walking down…)<p>

Dojima's car pulled up beside him. The window rolled down and Dojima's head popped out. "You found her?!"

"Were you looking for her?" Yu asked, forgetting that she HAD gone missing.

"Yesterday night, after we left, she disappeared. Since you can't just get up and walk away when you're blind, we knew she was kidnapped and have been searching since." The detective explained.

"Why didn't you tell me? I would have known what happened right away. She was thrown in the TV."

Dojima groaned. "You're fucking with me, right?" Yu shook his head. "Great, that's, what, 8 people with supernatural ears?"

"Don't forget the tail." Yu reminded him, waving it around his uncle's face. They both took notice that it was a little less cat-like now, but decided to ignore it until they got home.

Dojima swatted the tail away from his face. "Get in the back." Yu obeyed, and they took off.

* * *

><p>(At the hospital…)<p>

The two returned the kidnapped girl to the room she had been occupying before.

"Well, another job in the TV done with." Yu said, stretching his arms out. "And it's only…" He looked at his watch. "6 o'clock… I didn't think it would take that long."

Dojima came over, as he had been on his phone. "Well, we're having some guards stationed tonight to prevent an accident from happening. We didn't want her to fall back in."

"Um, what happened to Meinu?" Yu asked upon realizing that the dog was nowhere to be seen.

"Unfortunately, the mutt's staying with us until she's released." Dojima replied.

"Right. And what happened to her hat?" Dojima looked confused. "Overnight, if I'm right, she'll get ears. I don't think it will do anyone any good for some nurse screaming that their patient has cat ears."

"Oh, right. I didn't remember that. It's also with the mutt." Dojima said, walking out the door. "Let's go grab it."

* * *

><p>(At the Dojima residence…)<p>

Yu removed his hat and uncurled his tail. While his uncle went to retrieve the hat, he sat down and inspected the tail. It was more dog-like now.

"Big bro." Nanako caught his attention. "Why are your ears different?"

Yu placed his hand over his ears. They were indeed a different shape. Now worried, he got up and went into the bathroom. In said bathroom, looking through the mirror, Yu found that his ears had finally changed. As to be expected, they were a wolf's ears. That explained his tail as well.

"I'll have to talk to Whitewind about this later." He muttered to himself.

"Hey Yu-kun!" Rie floated through the wall. "Your uncle found the hat he was looking for. He wants to know if you want to do with him. OOO, those are some neat changes to your ears. The old ones look so drab."

"When did you become a fashion expert?" Yu asked. "Tell him I won't be going. I'm way too tired right now." He yawned for effect, making the author yawn as she wrote it, and every time she thought of the word yawn.

"Alright then." Rie floated back through the wall.

Yu rolled his eyes and dragged himself to his futon, collapsing on it, and falling into a deep sleep.


	37. Taking Care of A Lot Of Business

**Well, this took way too long to make. But I got slightly absorbed in Persona 3 Portable and Shin Megami Tensei Persona (PSP). Anyway, here it is. I hope to get the next one up before long. At least, not half a month long sort of thing.**

**Oh, and I'm going with the continuity of 36.5. **

**Also, something amazing, I think I posted this around the beginning of the school year. Now it's the end of the first semester. Man, am I surprised!**

**Also+ I love Nutella covered chocolate chip Eggos. Those things are amazing, and if you haven't tried them, and aren't allergic to chocolate or hazelnut, I recommend you try it. Shit's good!**

**This is my longest chapter, running 7,777 words long.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 37<p>

(28th) (Thursday)

Yu was woken from his slumber by something wet dragging itself across his face. Slowly, he pushed the thing away as he tried to return to sleep. Instead, the thing started to lightly gnaw on his fingers.

Yu groaned and opened his eyes. Meinu was standing on top of him, a look of expectation on her face. "What do you want?" He moaned.

"It's 6 o'clock. Time to get up!" She howled.

"I went through hell yesterday. Give me a fucking break." He rolled on his side, knocking the puppy off his stomach.

"I have to go pee." The dog informed him.

* * *

><p>Five minutes later, Yu was standing out in the cold of their backyard as he watched Meinu run around trying to find a good spot.<p>

"Just pick a spot and go. Is it that difficult?!" He sighed.

"It is if you're a dog." Meinu replied.

Yu rubbed his eyes, trying to get the sleep out of them. "Good point. Did you have to drag me out here? Nanako was already up. And this is a fenced-in backyard."

"I tried to tell her, but she told me it was too cold outside to play. I think."

"To think that you actually understood the vast majority of what she said. Alright, but from now on, I'm doing everything I have to in order to get Nanako to understand that you need to go, not wanting to play." Yu yawned and walked back inside, closing the sliding glass door behind him. "Hey Nanako." He called out to his cousin, catching her attention. "If you're awake at 6, and Meinu is jumping around, let her outside. She woke me for the sole reason of she needed to pee, and you thought she wanted to play."

"Oh, sorry Big Bro." Nanako apologized.

"Don't worry about it. Just let her out before she wakes me early after a trip through hell. Let her back in if she wants. I'm going back to bed." Yu waved to Nanako a little, before walking in a half-sleep daze back to his hopefully still warm bed.

* * *

><p>(About 9 o'clock…)<p>

Yu woke, feeling a lot better than a couple hours ago. Though he still didn't want to roll out of bed. Begrudgingly, he did so anyway. He stared blankly at his door for a second. Then it hit him. His door had been closed last night. How'd Meinu get in?

Yu sighed and got ready for the day, ignoring for the moment that Nanako couldn't get that the dog had to go, but understood that she wanted to go into his room.

He walked downstairs and popped a chocolate chip Eggo in the toaster. "Hey Nanako." Said girl looked up from her cartoons. "Did you really let Meinu in my room earlier?"

"No." Nanako replied. "Now that you bring it up, your door was closed, wasn't it?"

"That was me." Rie popped up out of nowhere.

"Why?" Yu questioned.

"Because she looked like she wanted something from you, so I let her in."

Said dog came up and poked his leg. "It's true, she let me in." Yu removed his Eggo from the toaster, pulling out the Nutella and a butter knife, smearing the hazelnut goodness on the already chocolaty food.

"That looks nasty." Nanako said, looking at the food as he put away the Nutella.

"It's actually really good." He pulled off a small bite. "Want some?"

"Um… sure." She opened her mouth, and Yu popped it in. She chewed thoughtfully. "That is good." She said, swallowing.

"It's the only reason that I request Nutella for when you go shopping." Yu took another bite.

Meinu poked his leg. "Um, Yu-kun, can we go see Naoto-kun when you're done with your food?"

Yu swallowed his most recent bite. "Yeah, I have to check in with her, don't I? Got to see those new ears of hers." Then he remembered something else. "Shit, I haven't seen Unten-shi in awhile. I have too many things on my to-do list."

* * *

><p>(At the hospital…)<p>

"Get this leash off me!" Meinu whined.

"Oh, will you shut it? You're a spoiled princess, you know that?"

"Yes I am!" The dog proclaimed boldly.

Yu sighed as he entered to room. "We're here." He crouched down and removed her leash.

"The collar too!" She demanded.

"No." Yu replied simply. "So long as you are living with humans, and are out in public, you have to wear a collar in case you wander off."

Meinu huffed in annoyance, but complained no further. Instead, the dog jumped up and sat down on the bed Naoto was sitting on.

"Morning." Yu greeted. "Meinu isn't happy about wearing a collar."

"She does seem rather unhappy." She replied, scratching behind the dog's ears, turning off the small TV that she had been listening to, which had an episode of Rehab Addict on. "In other news, I think I have cat ears now."

"That sounds likely. Mine have changed to a wolf's. Your dog is obnoxious, by the way. She woke me at 6 so she could go because Nanako wasn't getting the message."

"Well, you're the one that fed her for a couple months; shouldn't you have guessed something like that would happen, considering her attitude?" Naoto pointed out.

"Right, but I never had to live with her until today. Does she always get you up at 6?"

"If my alarm clock doesn't. Though it is a bit annoying on the weekends. You have to teach me how to speak dog so I can tell her when to shut it."

"Yeah, but I suggest you hold off on it. I really should have named her Chatty. She is, even more so when you can talk back. Um, let's just move away from the dog."

"Right, I'm assuming you want to see my ears?"

"Yep. Have you had anyone question why my uncle showed up for the sole reason of placing a hat on your head?"

"I haven't had anyone mention it actually. Then again, I'm pretty much alone here." Figuring from the fact that they were talking about cat ears that no one was around, she removed her hat.

"Oh, those are cute." Yu commented on the ears. "They're a Megidola purple with some black and white splotches mixed in."

"Megidola?" Naoto questioned.

"Persona skills have some very strange names." Yu answered. "I'm guessing if the strange trend of ear colors showing off your skills continue, I'm going to say that you are going to be great at clearing out large mobs."

"Why's that?"

"Well, I'm guessing the dark and light splotches are dark and light skills, which if you have the energy, could just murder anything provided it won't block it." Yu stopped. "Wait… I have no idea how I know that."

"E-excuse me?" Naoto asked, seemingly disturbed by his knowledge, and lack of at the same time.

"Don't question me!" Yu yelled.

A strange silence filled the air. It stayed for a minute.

"Um…" Naoto spoke up. "No one else was there when I had to face my shadow, right?"

"Yeah." Yu confirmed.

"OK, don't tell anyone that I hold a grudge for these things, alright?" She requested.

"You would look like a bit of a hypocrite, huh? Don't worry; I hardly understood a good chunk of it." Yu said. "As a matter of fact, the most I understood was you hate the ears and tails, you almost punched a hole in a wall, and you had some issues with your grandfather as a kid."

"I'm technically still a kid." Naoto pointed out. "And yeah, you're right. That's the gist of it. Though I don't know how we got onto the subject of my problematic childhood."

"Maybe your Shadow wanted to vent some anger about it?" Yu suggested.

"No, I'm not angry about it. As a matter of fact, I'm not sure what I feel about it."

Yu gazed at her, slightly confused. Apparently, the young detective could pick up on that.

"My parents died when I was 6 in a car accident." She informed him. She continued before he could say something sympathy filled. "My grandfather was the only relative I had that was still alive. So I was sent to live with him. Sadly, he wasn't much different from Dojima-san, and basically ignored me. If he did see me, the most I would get would be a nod or a small hello.

"Considering he was a detective, he had the money to hire someone to babysit me. Every morning my schedule was to get up, walk downstairs, eat the bland stale cereal that was given to me, go back upstairs, change, brush my teeth, and so on and so forth. It slowly killed me on the inside."

"But wouldn't someone who just lost their parents at a young age need some sort of love, attention, something?! My parents are horrible at paying attention to me, and they still do that much!" Yu felt slightly annoyed at the thought.

"He never noticed, and after no more than a week, I had completely lost the will. After about a month, the day came when he had stupidly left his gun lying around."

"You mean you…" He couldn't get the words out, so he mimicked putting a gun to his head and pulling the trigger. Naoto must have picked up on that as well.

"Nearly. Initially, I was just interested in it because it was something new around the house. I twirled it around a little, nearly dropped it, I think I almost shot myself in the foot. I don't really know where the thought of killing myself came from though."

Yu stared blankly. Of all the people he knew, he didn't expect this girl to be in any way mentally unstable, even when she was 6 and her parents died.

"And though I'm not sure where it came from, it was there, and it almost successfully pushed me off the cliff. I put it to my head, and then my grandfather walked into the room. He screamed some things, I screamed some things, and after that, I don't really remember anything.

"After that, everything started to get better. My grandfather gave a shit about me, talked to me, and even took a couple weeks off after the accident to ensure I wasn't going to try that little stunt again."

"Well, better to be safe than REALLY sorry later." Yu muttered.

An awkward silence filled the air as they ran out of things to talk about.

"Um… So!" Yu quickly changed the subject, or at least brought one up. "You want to play a game of Tennis?!"

"What's that?" Naoto asked.

"Give me your hand." Yu requested. Though seemingly unsure, she complied, sticking out her right hand, and Yu grabbed it. "You ready?" He asked. Naoto shrugged. "Alright." With that, he slapped the back of her hand, lightly, but enough to inflict some pain.

Naoto yelped in surprise and pain. She pulled her hand away, lightly rubbing it. Yu snickered. "You lose."

The glare she would have given him would have been fatal. "So that's Tennis, huh? Fine, now that I know what's going on, I demand a rematch!" She stuck her hand out again.

Yu chuckled as he pulled up a nearby chair, getting comfortable. He grabbed her hand. "You get the first shot this time."

Naoto reached forward with her left hand, ensuring that she wouldn't miss completely, though it was a simple matter to lead one hand to another, and therefore the back of the hand it was grabbing. She pulled back a little, and suddenly slapped the back of Yu's hand.

Yu flinched slightly, but he had played before, and though that stung, he'd felt worse. "Don't hold back now." He advised as he slapped her hand with much more might than before. Meinu watched them with interest.

This went on for a couple minutes, just back and forth slapping. After a while, they both were digging their fingernails into each other's skin, but refusing to back down.

Yu looked at their nearly purple hands. "You would totally give up if you knew what color your hand was turning at the moment."

"Yeah, this is getting a little painful." Naoto muttered.

"You've gone on much longer than anyone else I've played with. Want to just call it a draw?"

"Yeah." Slowly, they released their grips, rubbing their sore hands. Naoto laughed. "The stinging on the palm of my left hand hurts worse than the back of my right."

"That normally only happens when you're playing against someone weaker than you, last I checked." Yu took out his phone, taking a picture of his hand. "Hold out your hand for a second. I want a picture so you can see how bad your hand looks when you can see again." Naoto obeyed.

Yu noticed the clock on his phone. He sighed. "I've got to get going. See you later."

Naoto muttered a goodbye as Yu reattached the leash to the whining dog and dragged her out.

"Alright, Meinu. I have a small number of things I have to do today." He pulled out his notebook, where the back page had been effectively turned into mostly random notes. "First, I have to go get that motorcycle and take it home. Next, we have to go to the TV and get some materials so Daidara can make a shit ton of cool armor. After that, I have to learn how to make these ears invisible or whatever. Looks like I'll have to drop you off at home girl."

Meinu didn't seem unhappy with being left behind at the house, so he had a lot less of a painful time than dragging her out Naoto's room.

After saying a quick hello to Nanako, he then walked down to Unten-shi's. He knocked on the door and awaited the man. A couple seconds later, the door opened, and the man stepped out.

"Morning Yu-kun." He greeted. "I haven't seen you in awhile."

"Sorry, things have been pelting me, saying, 'Hey, look, listen!'" Yu explained.

"Ah, understandable. Anyway, I'm assuming you're here for the bike?"

Yu nodded, so Unten-shi opened the garage door where he stored the motorcycle. He brought it out. "All your stuff's there in the trunk. Passenger's stuff in the one on the side here. Don't go killing yourself, got it?"

Yu reassured him and pulled out his wallet, handing him his money. He then strapped on every protective thing that one could ever need, somehow managing to get Unten-shi to not notice his ears. He climbed on and turned the engine on. He waved slightly to Unten-shi, and drove away.

Not far from Junes, Yu saw Yosuke walking along the street. He honked. Yosuke jumped in surprise. Yu came to a stop. Yosuke took a step back.

"Why're you backing away?" Yu asked as he lifted the rather dark face shield.

Yosuke stared at him. He looked down at the motorcycle. "What the hell?!" He yelled. "When did you get this!?"

Yu looked at it. "Technically today." He answered.

"Dude, this thing is sweet!" Yosuke muttered, looking at the various parts.

"Want to take a short ride? I have to do to Daidara's and I'm planning on dragging you with me anyway." Yu offered.

"Even though it's a short drive, isn't that unsafe?" Yosuke seemed to be considering his options.

"Course it is!" Yu said all too happily as he opened the side trunk, and watched Yosuke immediately put on the helmet and coat. He climbed on, obviously excited.

Less than a minute later, they arrived at Daidara's. They disembarked the vehicle and entered.

"Morning Yu-kun, Yosuke-kun." Daidara greeted. "What's you need?"

"How many materials do you need for more armor?" Yu asked.

Daidara thought for a second. "I'm assuming you need it for Yosuke?" Yu nodded. He looked Yosuke up and down. "I'd say I can make the legs and most of the chest from the leftover materials from yours."

"What's this about?" Yosuke asked, nervous.

"Oh, I never showed you, did I?" Yu tapped the button on his watch, getting engulfed by his armor. He struck a pose as Yosuke's mouth fell open. "Like it?"

"Dude…" Yosuke whispered. "Can I get one of those!?" He yelled excitedly.

"Actually, yes." Yu answered, smacking the shoulder plate and having the armor turn back into a watch. "Just let Daidara to get the measurements he needs, and we can go to get more materials."

Yosuke agreed and Yu called up their friends while that was happening. They sighed and agreed to meet up at the usual table at Junes. They placed on their helmets again and drove over to the parking lot.

* * *

><p>(Inside the TV…)<p>

"So where we going to train, Alpha?" Yosuke asked.

"We're gathering materials, not training." Yu reminded him. "As such, because that's all we're doing, we're going to go murder some creatures at Yukiko's castle."

"It's not my castle." Yukiko huffed.

"Yeah, I know, but that doesn't mean I won't give you shit about it." Yu smiled. "Anyway, I'm putting a timer on my phone for two hours. Time starts… now." Yu started walking to the castle.

In the castle, the group sliced and diced anything that moved, opened some chests, and collected enough materials that they could probably finish Yosuke's armor, and make Chie and Yukiko's as well.

Rise scanned the area for any more enemies, chests, or anything of interest. There was none. "You've completely cleared this place out. I'm not sure any more Shadows will appear here even if you give it a million years."

"So then… ONTO KANJI'S TOY STORE!" Yu yelled, lightly nudging Kanji.

Kanji snarled at him, but didn't complain, though he did look like he wanted to punch his leader in the face.

Yu looked at his phone. "We have 45 minutes left. We can clear out a floor or two, right?"

Not. They only got halfway through the first floor because they were distracted. More like Kanji was distracted by the fluffy things surrounding them.

Teddie teleported them to the entrance when the timer went off. "Well, that was semi-successful." Yu stated. "Except next time, if Kanji decides to stop for any reason involving fluffy things, we leave him behind, alright?"

"Hang on a minute!" Kanji yelled. "At least give me a Goho-m if you go through with that, alright?!"

Everyone stared at the manly, yet soft boy. They weren't sure of how they expected him to react, but that certainly wasn't it. And so, unable to properly respond, they all just jumped through the TV without a word, leaving Kanji to watch them go, confused.

* * *

><p>(Back in the real world…)<p>

Yu traveled by himself to Daidara's. He dumped the materials on the table and watched the metalsmith's jaw drop at the amount and quality of the crafting items. "I'd say that's enough to pay for Yosuke's armor at least should you not pay me for these."

Daidara looked through the bag that contained to items. "Normally, I'd pay you, but yes, this is enough to complete the armor, and if I don't pay you this time, I won't have charge you for it. I could probably reduce the next amount by 3,000 yen or so. I'll have to count what I got and everything, and then I'll give you a better picture. Come back tomorrow. I'm really pent up now! This'll be done in no time!"

Yu smiled and let out a small chuckle at his attitude. "Thanks, Daidara-san."

Yu left the man to his work. He looked at his watch. He had plenty of time to do whatever he wanted. He figured that there was enough food at home that he wouldn't have to waste time shopping. So the rest of his day was free. Thinking back, maybe he should have paced himself in regards to the Social Links he possessed outside of school.

However, he knew that Kanji should be available today, so it didn't matter at the moment. Unless he was really tired or something, but because of the nature of the oddball Social Link system, it's highly unlikely that's the case.

Sure enough, Kanji was more than ready to see him, standing outside his mother's shop as though he was awaiting his leader. He was basically staring into space. Kind of creepy really.

Yu approached him. "Morning, Kanji."

Kanji glanced at him. "Ah, just the guy I wanted to see."

Yu raised an eyebrow. He couldn't have said something when they were gathered, but apparently the good ol' Social Linking system had a nice strong grip on him, and he was sticking to a strict schedule as a result.

Kanji forcibly dragged his friend to the hill overlooking the town, seemingly in a half-awake trance, now that Yu was paying some attention to details. 'Could he look any more dead?' He asked himself. 'Actually, course he could. He just needs to be on the ground, actually dead.'

At the hill, Kanji sat down at the bench, forcing his friend to do the same. "The other day, I went to visit my dad's grave." Kanji muttered robotically.

'Um, Margaret, Igor, someone?' Yu tried to contact his strange Velvet hosts.

'Yes, young guest?' Igor answered.

'I think Kanji's broken.' Yu informed him, referring to the automatic-ness of his actions.

'Hm…' Igor seemed to contemplating the situation as he listened to Kanji drone on.

"It was the first time I've gone on my own."

'I can't say what happened. Margaret has stepped out with Marie for the moment, so it's possible her and the Persona Compendiums lack of presence has caused this, but I cannot say for sure. I guess you'll just have to deal with it this time.'

'But none of this seems relevant to his relationship with the kid and certainly doesn't concern me!' Yu almost wanted to beg Igor to just change Kanji's Social Link structure, this was nuts.

'Sorry, can't help you. I can only fuse Personas and offer advice. As a matter of fact, here's some advice right now: Suck it up!' Igor then, er, disconnected from Yu's mind and left him alone to listen to Kanji's awkward droning.

"Um, that's amazing?" Yu posed it as a question, as he wasn't sure why he was hearing this if this was a Social Link event.

"Why do you sound so weirded out by me talking about my dad?" Kanji asked, somehow picking up on the strangeness.

"Nothing. Continue, please." Yu hoped he would drop it. And drop it he did.

"Anyway, I felt like I could finally face him." Kanji sounded really proud of himself. "He told me before he died, 'If you're a man, you got to be strong.'" Kanji chuckled. "Got real mad at him for that. Sounded like he was saying I'm not a real man. So I became the tough guy every sees. Beating up gangs; those were the sort of thing that I assumed he meant by 'strong.' But… it wasn't. I'm still not really sure what he really meant, but I'm not planning on lying to myself anymore. I have to stop shying away from my hobbies, and other people. So from now on, if someone asks me if I like to sew, I'm going to tell them, 'Hell yeah!' So long as there is one person to accept me, I'll be happy, and no longer afraid."

"Good, Kanji. You would definitely be able to accept your Shadow with no trouble now. Didn't I tell you that you wouldn't need me?" Yu lightly elbowed him.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Kanji smiled. "Hey, guess what, my dolls are going up for sale at my mom's shop, since they were such a big hit with the kid and his mom. Speaking of the dolls, I have to go get those supplies to make them." Kanji got up. "Bye." He walked away.

Now with nothing to do, Yu looked up at the clouds that dotted the sky. "Hm, never noticed how nice of a day it was." He muttered to himself. "Well, I still have a couple hours of my day left." He walked out to a nice grassy spot and lied down. He stared at the sky until he fell asleep…

* * *

><p>(29th) (Friday)<p>

Yu awoke that lovely Friday… only to find that he slept from around 5 p.m. yesterday to about 6 in the morning the next day.

He groaned slightly as he stretched his stiff muscles. "This'll teach me to fall asleep in a nice grassy spot after murdering dangerous creatures."

Slowly, he walked back to the residence he was staying in.

"Nanako!" Yu called out to his cousin.

"Big Bro, you're back! You're lucky I didn't tell dad you disappeared." Nanako scolded him as she ran up to him in glee, Rie following not far behind with a look of amusement on her face.

"I'm sorry, Nanako-chan. I fell asleep at the hill, and somehow didn't wake until earlier this morning." Yu apologized. "Anyway, have you let Meinu out this morning?"

Nanako's expression changed to one that read, 'oops.' "That would be a 'no.'" Rie answered for her friend.

Yu sighed slightly and walked to the back door. He whistled for the dog, who jumped off the couch she had been lying on and ran outside with obvious urgency. "Stupid mutt, why didn't you give Nanako a sign that you had to go?" Yu called out to the dog.

"I'm not going to try after what happened last time!" The dog barked back. "Now leave me alone!"

Yu turned around and looked at Nanako. "Close the door when she comes back in, please. I have to change."

Nanako nodded and so Yu went to his room upstairs to change his clothes. The ones he was currently wearing were covered in grass.

About a minute later, Yu came back downstairs to find that Nanako was watching cartoons, the back door having been shut. Meinu was lying on the couch, a look on her face that clearly showed that she had just relieved herself after holding it for a long time.

"I'm off to see what the day throws at me. Don't kill yourselves. Again, in Rie's case." Yu said, Rie giggling at the fact that she was dead.

First thing Yu had to do was see Daidara. He called up Yosuke, and told him to meet at the metalsmith's, before calling and tell Chie the same message.

Yosuke got his armor, at which point he almost ran out into the street to kill some people before Yu stopped him.

He thwacked his Beta upside the head for his recklessness. "Do you know how much trouble we would get in if my uncle, or any of the other police for that matter, saw you running around in full body armor and waving your weapons around like a lunatic?"

"Oh, right." Yosuke sighed.

And the Chie entered the picture. "Hey there guys, what's cooking?"

"Cooking?" Yosuke asked. "Hopefully not something you made."

Naturally, in retaliation, she kicked Yosuke in the gut. He fell to the floor in pain.

"Um, so anyway," Yu looked briefly at Yosuke, before deciding that he deserved it, and left him to writhe in pain. "We need some measurements from you." He decided to just be as direct as possible. Too bad he didn't think about what Chie might have thought it sounded like. Not that he really knew. The next thing he knew, he was on the ground, clutching his stomach in pain. He shouldn't have worded it like that.

While Yu and Yosuke were lying on the ground in pain, Daidara explained what they really wanted. Chie had a blank stare on her face as she muttered, "Oh, um, sorry Yu-kun, Yosuke-kun."

In reply, Yosuke muttered to her, "Yeah sure, that totally gets rid of the pain in my gut."

Yu crawled out of the store, probably looking like a bug, slowly moving to a nearby bench. Some random bystander saw him whispered to a nearby companion, 'Looks like he said something wrong to Chie.' They laughed, unaware at how correct that statement was.

Slowly, Yu pulled himself up onto the bench. He took a deep breath. "OK," He muttered to himself. "Note to self, don't make Chie mad. EVER."

He waited for a couple minutes for the pain to subside. After which he got up and hightailed out of there, for fear that Chie might come out of the store, and that he might say something stupid again.

In any case, with nothing good to do, he decided to go see Naoto, who was probably bored out of her mind listening to Judge Judy.

Correct he was, as the girl in question was lying on her bed, extremely still as some TV show droned on in the background. When she heard the door creak open, however, she perked up. "Hello." She greeted him.

"Morning," Yu replied, taking a seat on the nearby chair.

"Yu-kun." It seems that it was then that she realized who he was, not that it was much of a surprise. She sat up.

"You seem really bored." Yu pointed out.

"No way, you think?" Naoto snapped, clearly not happy that she was stuck in one spot.

"OK, I know this is my fault, but don't take it out on me." They both sighed.

"How many days has it been?" Naoto asked him.

"Let's see… it was Tuesday when we finally got rid of Junko, and it's Friday now, so… two days in between, half of today, half of Tuesday… three days."

Naoto groaned. "This is driving me crazy!"

"It's a short drive." Yu joked.

"This is serious!" Naoto yelled at him.

"I know; I just couldn't help it." Yu muttered.

The door creaked open. Both the teens turned their attention to the newcomer. It was a doctor. "Morning, Shirogane-san." He greeted.

"Good morning, Dr. Halsey." Naoto muttered.

"Did I hear you yelling a minute ago?" The doctor asked.

"Yeah." Yu replied for her. "She's kind of losing it." Naoto smacked his shoulder. "What, it's true! You said so yourself!"

"Don't mean you can go around telling other people." She sighed. "But yeah, I do feel like I want to tear my hair out by now."

The doctor smiled gently. "Tomorrow, Shirogane-san." He promised.

Naoto looked absolutely miserable as the doctor exited the room.

Yu put his hand on her shoulder. "Tomorrow, Shirogane-san." He mimicked the man's words.

"You're not helping." Naoto growled, turning her head away from him.

"Sorry." Yu muttered. "But on the bright side, 'tomorrow'." Naoto didn't reply. "You're no fun when you're depressed." He got up. "If you didn't want to talk to me, you could have just said so." He turned to leave.

"Don't go!" Naoto begged desperately.

"Make up your mind." Yu reclaimed his spot. "So anyway, how have you been?"

"Absolutely terrible." Naoto replied rather bluntly.

"Oh yeah, should have realized that." Yu tried to find something else of interest to say. "So, what are you planning on doing after getting out of here?"

"Doing anything I have to in order to get rid of all of this pent-up energy I have." Naoto answered.

"In that case, all of my Investigation Team is going to be worn out if they join in. Meinu as well." Yu smiled as Naoto laughed, though she seemed confused, as though she didn't even understand the reason she had for laughing to begin with. Suddenly, an idea popped into the wolf eared boy's head. "Actually, that's a great idea. Have a bit of a mini-party. Why am I just now coming up with this?"

"Is a party really necessary? Shouldn't we wait until we actually accomplish something?" Naoto questioned his reasoning.

"Well, let's see, what have we done?" Yu decided to just name off the simple stuff. "Rescued Yukiko from a guarded fortress, fought our way through a toy store for Kanji, went through a strip joint to save Rise, and wandered around for at least an hour in total darkness to save you. I think I can safely say we have something to celebrate here."

"You have a valid point." Naoto nodded. "When do you think we'll have it then?"

"Some time after you get out of here, duh." Yu answered.

"That's a lot of time though. Narrow it down a little."

Yu thought for a second. She had a point. "OK, before I leave Inaba, better?"

"Slightly."

Yu smiled and continued to narrow it down only slightly, like, before Christmas. Finally, they had narrowed it down to this month.

"This month, huh?" Naoto thought for a second. "That doesn't leave a lot of time. I believe it's the 29th, correct?"

"You don't know the day of the week, but you know the day of the month?" Yu laughed.

"What's so funny about that? I just remembered what day it was when school ended, and from there just added two days. It's not that difficult."

"Yeah, but this is you, Naoto Shirogane, Ace Detective, I'm talking too. Anything that is remotely like a puzzle is overly simple for you." Yu pointed out.

"Not everything. I'm horrible at block puzzles." She admitted.

Yu laughed. "Block puzzles?"

"No one is perfect, Senpai." She muttered.

"Whatever you say." After saying this, his stomach growled at him to go get some food. "I forgot to eat this morning." He realized.

Naoto shook her head. "Go get some food then."

Yu, having no real reason to complain, was gone in a second.

* * *

><p>Thinking it would be best to not go to Junes for some cheap food that really wouldn't satisfy his hunger, Yu decided to go to get some beef at Aiya's. Due to his extreme hunger from not eating dinner, breakfast, or lunch, the owner made him a Rainy Day Mega Beef Bowl, though it wasn't raining.<p>

Slowly, he dug into it. Half an hour later, he was poking at the rice at the bottom, though he felt like his stomach wanted to explode. The owner came over to check on his progress. His mouth dropped open.

"You ate all the way to the rice?!" He screeched in disbelief. "But… how?!"

"I missed dinner yesterday, forgot breakfast, and this is basically a late lunch." Yu explained.

The poor owner couldn't respond, just simply staring at the greasy rice in the bowl.

Yu picked up his chopsticks again, slowly eating the remains of the dish. "You're not going to make me pay for this, are you?" He asked as he shoved more food into his mouth.

"That's how the Mega Beef Bowl works. You get to the rice, you don't pay." Aiya replied slowly.

"Good, because I think I forgot my wallet at home." Done with the bowl, Yu put his chopsticks down. He waved a little at the owner and left.

Aiya's daughter, Aika, returned from a delivery a second later. She looked at her father, and then to the empty bowl sitting on the counter. "Someone finished it?" She stared for another second, before shrugging it off and returning to her duties.

* * *

><p>At a snail's pace, due to his full stomach, Yu walked down the sidewalk. Suddenly, someone called out to him. "Senpai!" Yu turned around, finding Rise running to him. She reached him, stopping and looking up at him with a happy expression. "Notice anything… different?"<p>

Yu looked at her, not seeing anything. He shook his head.

"Geez, you're dense." Rise huffed.

Teddie then came running up, calling out, "Wait up, Rise-queen." He stopped beside her, bending over and panting.

"OK, what's going on here?" Yu asked.

Rise sounded annoyed as she gave him a hint. "The head area, look there." Yu studied her face. That was the end for Rise. "The ears, dammit!"

Yu looked at her ears, only to realize they were gone. "Oh!"

"Oh, don't sound so proud." Rise sighed. "But yeah, I've been working on it all day, and I finally have decent enough control over my powers that I can hide my ears."

"Don't get too excited, Rise-queen." Teddie advised. "If you do, you might lose what little control you currently possess."

Rise took a deep breath. "You're right. That would be saddening."

"So…" Teddie sneaked his way into the topic that he decided was a good idea to talk about. "It's been at least a month now, and I've helped you hide your ears… Will you be my queen now?"

Rise sighed. "You're persistent."

"But of course!" Teddie yelled passionately. "I won't just give up! Just one date, that's all!"

Rise was about to reject him, but then Yu spoke up. "You know, one date won't kill you, and Teddie won't stop bothering you about it."

Rise looked helplessly at him. "Since when did you get a say in this?"

"I don't, really. It's up to you, but I suggest that you just get it over with." Yu said.

"Fine." Rise muttered.

Teddie yelled in glee.

"Don't look so annoyed, Rise-chan. If it makes you feel any better, before the month is over, I plan on having a bit of a celebratory party. You know, because we've all gone through the TV world so many times now."

Rise perked up. "Really? When?"

"Before the month is over." Yu repeated.

"Cool! Can I have a cooking competition with the other girls?" Rise seemed really pumped to get him to approve.

"Well, if you do, I sure as hell am not eating anything." After what happened with Chie and Yukiko's cooking skills, he didn't have high hopes for Rise.

"But why!?"

"Um, because Chie and Yukiko can't cook for shit, and if I eat yours, but not theirs, they'll be mad." Yu thought up on the fly.

"Let's just try anyway!" Rise yelled.

"I have no objections." Teddie piped up.

Yu sighed. "Fine, but if someone dies, it's on you females."

"Yay!" Rise jumped for joy. "I'll call Chie and Yukiko and tell them to prepare. You should go tell Naoto-kun. I want her to join in too."

"Hell no." Yu rejected the thought. "Three females, two of which are horrible cooks, in the kitchen are enough. We don't need to add any more. Besides, she'll still be trying to get rid of all of her pent-up energy."

Rise sighed. "Fine. But you have to make something then."

"Wait, when was I thrown into the mix?" Yu knew he would be the one to win, especially if some sort of prize was involved, so he didn't want to take part in it.

"There has to be an even number. I'm a bit OCD about that sort of thing." Rise explained. "Plus, I really want to try your cooking."

"Right… Fine. Let me warn you though. I'm an amazing cook, and am going to kick your ass." Yu warned her.

"We'll see about that." Rise said smugly, turning around. "Come on Teddie, let's get this over with."

It was impossible to describe how much joy Teddie must have been feeling as he followed after Rise, talking excitedly about what they could possibly do during their date.

Yu snickered, before calling out to Rise, "What are we going to cook?"

Rise looked back at him. "Isn't it your job to decide?"

Yu shrugged. "It's your idea."

"Good point. Um… Oh, I know! We can spend the night, and when we wake, we can have the completion over omelettes."

"I'm not sure I want to wake up in the morning to eat Chie and Yukiko's cooking, but sure, I'll try to get my uncle to allow it." Yu sighed.

"Then it's decided, it'll be tomorrow!" Rise said happily.

"We never decided the date though!" Yu pointed out.

"Why can't we have it tomorrow?"

"I never said that."

"Then it's tomorrow. Tell everyone for me, OK?" Rise decided for him, and walked away with Teddie following her like a puppy.

Yu stared after the two. "What just happened?" He asked himself.

Shaking it off, Yu called up all of his friends, telling them that he was planning on holding a party at his place tomorrow, at which point they all immediately cleared their schedules. He decided it was for the best to not inform those not in the cooking contest that there was one going on, and that the two cooking failures were active contestants.

As his final act before going shopping to get enough ingredients for the four of them, he went to inform Naoto about what was going on with the party. He spent about 20 minutes just trying to explain what happened while he was out, just to simply get some lunch. He then left to go shopping.

At home, Yu spotted Dojima reading the newspapers. "You're home for once." He commented as he put away the supplies.

"Yeah, that happens on occasion." Dojima said bluntly.

"Right. Anyway, do you think we can have a party tomorrow?" Yu decided to just ask right away.

"Who's going to be involved?" Dojima asked, not looking up from his paper.

Yu stared at his uncle. "You aren't going to reject the idea outright?"

"You're teenagers. I shouldn't be surprised that you want to have a party." Dojima replied.

"Oh, well, it's just going to be us Persona-users. And you and Nanako is you're both there." Yu answered, feeling weird talking to his uncle about Persona-users.

"That's 8 people, not including Nanako and I, correct?" Dojima asked.

Yu nodded. "Yeah. Rise was talking about holding a cooking contest for her and the other girls, and me as well. She said that she wanted for the contest to be with omelettes. It's probably just an excuse to allow her to spend the night, since it's a breakfast food."

"I heard the girls are really bad cooks. Just keep them from blowing the roof off the house, and you can do it."

Yu stared at his uncle in shock. "You're just going to let us do this?"

"Like I said, you're teenagers. And there will only be 8 of you, not counting Nanako. I don't see too much of a problem."

Just to make sure that his uncle hadn't been replaced with an alien, he did a quick sweep of the room to check for any signs such a thing occurred.

"What are you doing?" Dojima asked.

"Just making sure that you haven't been replaced with an alien." Yu replied, looking under the table.

Dojima shook his head, muttering something about his nephew's humor. "Alright, I have some rules though."

Yu stopped looking around. "There's the Dojima I know!"

Dojima sighed. "If the house is trashed, you're cleaning it. I won't lend you any money, and you aren't allowed to have more than those 7 over. Nanako has to go to bed on time, and you can't be up past midnight. Don't think I won't enforce those rules."

Yu did a sort of mini-salute. "Yes sir!"

"Now what was that for?" Dojima asked.

Yu shrugged. "Got to show you I'm serious somehow, right?"

Dojima shrugged back and went back to reading his newspaper. Yu spent the rest of the night preparing for the party the next day.

* * *

><p><strong>Anyone remember the omelette cook-off that occurred after taking down Mitsuo? Yeah, that's what this is based around, of course, with some of my own special personal touch to it.<strong>

**Oh, and I'm sure not one of you people noticed the fact that Naoto called the doctor 'Dr. Halsey.' For those who did notice and question its existence, good for you! I actually have a reason for that particular name. See, I have/had (I think it's just seriously better now) scoliosis. For those unaware, it's basically where your spine curves in a C or S shape, and you lean to one side. It's really awkward. Anyway, I had/have that, and the doctor that did the surgery to correct it was named Dr. Halsey.**


	38. The Omelette Party!

**Worse. Week. Ever.**

**First, on the 25****th****, my cat was put down at almost 10 at night. Then a power surge almost fried the Wii. Luckily, it was a simple AC adapter reset, but still. Then finals were a thing, and that sucked the life out of me. God, this week will just keep getting better and better, huh?!**

**The cat thing is probably what has caused the nighttime portion of this. A slight sense of sadness from death. Otherwise, I would have included that much later on.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 38<p>

(30th) (Saturday)

Yu spent until about 4 o'clock ensuring that they had everything they needed (AKA things to ensure the house won't burn down the next day). Rise was the first to arrive, holding a bag that contained a couple things that she told him was to add some spice to her omelette. Yu hoped to God that it wasn't literally spice. Though he didn't quite trust a supermodel in the kitchen, he didn't get rid of the ingredients.

Chie and Yukiko came next, prepared with their own 'enhancing' ingredients. Yu threw them away the first second they weren't looking, to ensure no deaths, or comas occurred the next morning. Or the roof was blown off the house. That was one of Dojima's rules, after all.

After everyone was there but Naoto, Yu left Nanako in charge until he got back from picking her up. It wasn't a worry that they would destroy the house so long as Nanako was there. Just her presence was like a spell to the teens.

Before he could walk out the door, Meinu came bounding over, begging to allow her to come along. Yu couldn't resist the puppy-dog stare the dog gave him, so he sighed and slipped on her collar and leash. She didn't complain at how she hated the feeling of the collar this time. Though she hadn't been told what was going on in the slightest, she knew where they were going, and was super excited.

At the hospital, when Yu arrived, he found Naoto sitting on the edge of the bed, doing something. What exactly, he wasn't sure. Though he assumed that she was doing something along the lines of putting on shoes, as she was crouching over, messing around with something around her foot.

She took notice of their presence, but didn't look up from what she was doing, when Meinu yipped at the boy holding her in place, struggling to get him to release her leash. Finally, he let go, and the dog bolted forward, jumped up and unintentionally smacking her owner in the face with her cranium. Meinu whined at the sudden headache she had.

Naoto slowly put a hand over her hand. "Ow." She muttered. "Dog, whatever made you think that was a good idea?" Meinu whined in an apology. With the hand that wasn't currently covering her face, she reached over and lightly stroked the dog's head.

"You seem ready to get out of here." Yu commented.

Naoto lifted her head out of her hand and looked up at him with a smile, her beautiful blue eyes possessing a particular sparkle to them. "But of course. You think I'm going to stay any longer than I have to?"

"Well then, how about we get out of here!" Yu said, walking over to stand in front of her.

Naoto pushed herself off the bed. Her legs weren't prepared for the sudden weight though, and she fell forward. Yu caught her.

"Not doing anything for a couple days is finally taking its toll, huh?" He smiled.

"Shut up." Naoto commanded.

Yu did what she wanted. He gave her a minute to get her bearing, though Meinu was jumping around so much that it was making things really difficult. Finally, she was able to move with little difficulty, so they went along their way.

Back at the Dojima residence, everyone greeted the two (Plus the dog) happily. For reasons unknown, Rie immediately started to bombard Naoto with questions on how many times she thought she was going to go crazy.

Said girl nimbly dodged answering the questions by asking what Yu had planned.

Yu met the question with a black stare. "I honestly can't answer that. While I did think a party would be a good idea, I've never been a part of a small group party like this. However, I have been a part of some of those major rich kid parties because I knew someone connected to the host."

"So what you're saying here is that you organized a party, but you only thought of one thing that we'll be doing, and that's in the morning? And Rise was the one to come up with it in the first place?" Naoto asked.

"That sounds about right." Yu laughed at himself.

Everyone sighed, except Nanako and Rie, who seemed confused.

"You had a whole days worth, and you didn't manage anything?" Chie complained.

"I was making sure we had all the food we needed, and also, everything that could be considered a precautionary on the likely chance you two blow the roof off this place!" Yu yelled, directing the insult at Chie and Yukiko.

"Oh, this is our fault now?!" Chie yelled, standing up from the couch she had been sitting on. Yukiko got up as well, looking annoyed.

Everyone that wasn't a part of the argument that was now occurring started talking causally about what they should do, considering Yu didn't plan. With nothing interesting to do, they settled on watching a movie. Nanako got out the small variety of DVDs the family had. Yosuke immediately spotted Dumminator 1 and 2, and demanded that they watch that. When asked why the family had the two, Nanako told them her Big Bro had bought them. He hadn't seen the first one when Yosuke asked him to pay for him that day of the 11th. It then clicked in Yosuke's mind that they never did go see that.

"Hey Alpha?" He called out to his leader.

Yu looked around Chie, who still seemed to be steamed. "What is it?"

"We never ended up going to see Dumminator 2 in the theater."

"Yeah, I realized that a while ago. I saw it in Junes so I figured I'd buy it. I figured I had to see it and the prequel too, so I bought them."

"I saw that. I can't believe I forgot about it."

"I can't believe you let me forget about it."

Yosuke instantly started to demand that they watch the movies. Yu was tempted to object for Nanako's sake, but she seemed to be just as pumped as Yosuke to watch it. With no one else raising any sort of objection, Nanako popped the DVD in the player while Yu made three bowls of popcorn for them.

Yosuke settled himself as close to the screen as he could get without blocking everyone else's view. Yu took the couch, and Rise took the opportunity to snuggle up by him. He didn't complain, as Teddie was doing that for him. The pretty blond boy eventually gave up with a huff when Yosuke yelled at him to shut it, throwing popcorn at him.

At around 9, the end of the second movie came about, and Yosuke looked too excited to sleep. Yu quickly ushered Nanako to bed, for fear that Dojima might suddenly come home and see that his daughter was watching a slightly gory movie at around 9 o'clock. Rie followed close behind, looking like she was about to fall asleep, as though the movie bored her that much.

While Yu was doing that, and gathering up all the blankets and pillows that they would need at midnight and beyond, Rise started talking. "So, now that Nanako's asleep or at least in bed, what do we do?" Slowly, everyone gathered around the short table.

"Aren't you usually the one to come up with the random things we do?" Yosuke asked.

"Valid point, Yosuke-senpai. I guess I'm the entertainer all the way!" Rise smiled.

"Is it really smart to let her come up with our topics?" Yukiko asked. "I mean, after that talk we had a couple weeks ago in the TV…"

"Ah, looks like that's our topic. Thank you, Yukiko-senpai."

Yukiko stared at the idol. "Wha…?" She was dumbstruck. She had clearly wanted to avoid such a conversation.

Yu overheard what was going on. "Hey Rise-chan," He called out to her. "While we're on the topic of awkward conversations that involve relationships, how'd your date go with Teddie?"

All eyes were suddenly on Rise. "You actually went on a date with him?" Chie asked.

"He wasn't going to stop bugging me if I didn't. Blame Yu-senpai, he told me too!" Rise screeched.

Everyone snickered. "Don't you always say that you love Yu-kun though?" Chie asked. "Why would you even consider going out with Teddie then? I don't care if Yu-kun told you too."

Teddie jumped in. "Just admit it, Rise-queen! You love me!" He jumped forward, attempting to hug her. He got an elbow to the face instead. The poor boy comically fell to the ground, and let out a groan of pain.

"I only did it because you said, 'just one date, that's all!'" Rise badly mimicked Teddie's voice.

"You still went on a date with him though." Yukiko reminded her. "What did you do?"

"Shopping." Rise answered sourly.

"Just shopping?" Kanji asked.

"He considered it good enough for a date. I wasn't going to complain." Rise shrugged.

"I had to carry all 20 or so of her bags!" Teddie proclaimed happily.

"20 bags?" Naoto questioned, wondering how it was possible if they were even somewhat small.

"Teddie can be actually really talented when he wants to be. I'm just as surprised, and I watched him." Rise herself seemed to be questioning the logic behind the bear-boy's abilities. "Um, can we just move on from the date I had to go through yesterday?"

"I vote we steer clear of relationships in general." Yosuke held up his hand. Multiple others joined his.

"It's not a party without it though!" Rise pouted. "Besides, there's someone I haven't questioned yet!"

"We all know how it would go if we did engage in such a conversation though." Yu pointed out as he took a seat. "Everyone would refuse to discuss it, except Teddie, and then he would try to hug you; you'd kick him in the gut and say you love me, at which point you'd almost knock me over trying to hug me."

A silence fell over the group. "That… sounded all too accurate." Yosuke said finally.

"Then let's break that accuracy into little pieces and stomp on its remains!" Rise yelled. Everyone quickly scooted away from her. "What? I didn't mean that literally. You guys think I was going to break you into pieces and stomp on your broken bodies?"

No one responded, only staring at the star in concern.

"If you come back, I'll stop talking about relationships." Rise bribed.

Everyone found that to be a fair enough bargain, and moved back to their spots.

A new silence came about. "So, what do we talk about?" Yukiko asked.

"I think we've been in Rise-chan's cocoon too long." Kanji muttered.

"I guess… we just let Rise-chan have her way then?" Chie asked awkwardly.

Rise squealed in glee. "Ok, this time, our first victim will be…" She raised her right hand to the air, pointer finger out. She swung the arm down, and pointed at Naoto, who didn't seem to want to be a part of this. "Naoto-kun!" Naoto stared blankly at her. "So…" Rise leaned forward. "Who do you like?"

Naoto leaned back as Rise leaned forward, almost falling over. She looked at Yu. "Is this really all you can come up with to talk about?"

Yu shrugged. "You got a better suggestion?"

Naoto shook her head in disbelief. Rise pressed for details. "No one." She answered.

"Everyone likes someone." Rise pried. "Come on, who is it?"

"I told you. No one." Naoto growled.

Rise clicked her tongue. "You're a tough nut."

Yu sighed. "Give her some slack, Rise-chan. First day officially on the team, and you're already asking her personal questions?"

Rise sighed. "Fine." She turned her attention to Yosuke with a sudden grin. "So, what about you, Yosuke-senpai?"

Yosuke shifted nervously at his spot. "That's for me to know, and for you to never find out."

Rise sighed and moved onto her next target, Chie, only to get essentially the same response. She moved around the table, but never got any real answer. Expect for Teddie, but does that even count at this point?

In any case, Yu eventually told everyone to go to bed. It was 10 o'clock, but they weren't getting anywhere with this pointless conversation, and the only thing that they were managing was probably waking Nanako, and the floating dead person that also seemed to sleep.

Rise was reluctant to cut the conversation short, but everyone else quickly grabbed a blanket and pillow and curled up in their own little corner.

Yu threw Rise her stuff, and gathered his own, occupying the center of the room. Rise sighed heavily and lied down.

* * *

><p>(Time: Almost midnight…)<p>

Yu was awoken by a somewhat soft light, and someone faintly whispering, counting down from 60. He cracked his eyes open, moving them to the side from which the light came from.

Naoto was sitting there, slightly leaning against the couch. She was at 30 when Yu sat up, looking at her questionably. She saw him and quickly flipped the phone closed.

"What are you doing?" He whispered to her.

"Nothing." Naoto lied, quite obviously.

"That only makes me concerned." Yu said.

"You shouldn't be. I was just checking the time since I happened to wake. It's nearly midnight." She explained.

"Why were you counting down then like it was some important event?" Yu pried.

"It isn't. I just wanted to see how close I could be to my phone's clock."

"OK, now I know you're lying." Yu said. "I don't care what made you think I would buy that, but I'm not."

Naoto snapped her fingers, muttering sarcastically, "Darn."

Yu scooted closer to her. "Now then, what were you doing? I won't judge you. Unless it is just that ridiculous. At which point, I will laugh." For the most part, he was completely serious about that.

Naoto slowly drew her knees in closer, embracing them. "I'm 16 this year." Yu gazed at her questionably. "This makes it 10 years." She seemed to be holding back a sob.

"10 years…?" Yu didn't figure he knew enough to really know what she meant.

"Since that day. The day my parents left this world." She choked up.

Yu gasped slightly. "Oh," was all he could get out.

A silence fell upon them. It was broken a minute later when Meinu wandered up to them. "Can you keep it down?" She requested drowsily. "I know you're technically being quiet, but I'm a dog, you know." The two stared at the dog as she walked back into the darkness, back to her warm space and curled back up.

"Um… We probably should move this." Yu muttered awkwardly.

"It's fine." Naoto whispered to him. "Go back to sleep."

"No, it really isn't." Yu replied nonchalantly. "I know you well enough by this point to guess that you won't be sleeping anytime soon."

"That's probably true, but nothing you do will change that." Naoto hissed at him, seeming to be getting annoyed.

In the corner, Meinu growled at them. Yu sighed; this wasn't going to end soon. He whispered an apology to the dog and got up, pulling Naoto with him. He led her upstairs, where they would not disturb the dog. "Step… step… step…" He whispered to her at each step.

"I get it. There's stairs. You don't need to point it-"

Naoto was interrupted as Yu said, "No step."

"Wha-" Was all Naoto could get out before she stumbled, as there wasn't a step where she had expected one. After she recovered her balance, she glared at him. "You did that just so you could distract me and make me stumble, didn't you?"

"No, that was just a hilarious byproduct of me telling you where to expect a step." Yu laughed.

"Why are you dragging me up here anyway? Instead of disturbing the dog, you plan on waking your uncle?"

Yu sighed as he ushered his friend into his room, not that she really seemed to want to. "Even if he is home, I highly doubt he'll awaken if there is a wall or two between us, and we don't cause too many loud noises." He took a seat on the couch.

"If you just went back to bed, we wouldn't even have to worry about this!" Naoto refrained from yelling, but she clearly wanted to. She joined him on the couch regardless.

"You're irritable today." Yu pointed out, not that it was really necessary.

"If you just went back to bed…"

"I wouldn't have had to deal with this." Yu finished her sentence. "Well, guess what? I've dragged myself into this, regardless of the fact that I fear I might end up regretting it." Naoto snarled at him. He sighed. "You know, I'm not the best with how people react to things like the anniversary of a death, but I figured that most would be crying right about now."

"Well, sorry for not meeting your expectations." Naoto snapped. "If you would just bother to drop it…"

"Yes, I'm aware of what would happen if we both just went back downstairs and pretended nothing happened. But you know what…?" He paused, trying to come up with the most elegant way of putting it. "Fuck that. I can pretty much guarantee, as soon as you're sure I'm asleep, that tough, uncaring facade is going to disappear."

"Whoever said it was a facade?" Naoto countered.

"Back downstairs, you choked back a sob, multiple times." Yu reminded her.

Naoto didn't reply, just adverted her gaze, directing it to the floor.

"What is with the tough act anyway? It's not like I'm judging. Nor would the others." There was no response. Worried he may have broken his friend, he put a hand on her shoulder and shook her a little. "Oh come on now. Will you say something?" Slowly, he moved her head so she would look at him. He found she was desperately trying to hold back tears. He immediately regretted even attempting to break through the wall she had put up.

Suddenly feeling incredibly jerky, he muttered an apology to her and pulled her into a hug. After a minute, he started wondering how it even got to this point. Another minute passed. Naoto had fallen asleep.

Yu stared at her for a second. She looked so peaceful, and he didn't want to risk waking her, but sleeping upright was probably bad for the back. He at least wanted to put a blanket over her, but the only one nearby was on his futon, which was out of his reach.

As luck would have it, the door opened. Yu looked up. It was his uncle. "Morning." Yu greeted nervously.

Dojima sighed. "Maybe I should have addressed this in my rules."

"OK, no." Yu whispered. "Long story, but basically, sad death anniversary, and now she's asleep. Help?"

Dojima chuckled. "I'm assuming you're requesting help because you don't want to wake her?" Yu nodded. The uncle was trying to suppress his laughter. "Looks like you're stuck then."

Yu sighed. "Fine. At least get my futon's blanket and pillow then."

Dojima complied, laughing to himself all the way. Yu slowly moved into a half lying down position and called it good. He bid his uncle goodnight and rested his head on the pillow and tried to get as comfortable as possible. Once that was achieved, he started to drift off into sleep. The last thought that ran through his mind was, 'Why did my uncle come into the room?'

* * *

><p>(31st) (Sunday) (Though it technically was at midnight)<p>

Yu woke to the smell of something burning. He almost jumped up and ran down there, but he found he couldn't. Naoto was using his chest as a pillow. The burnt smell got stronger, and she stirred. She lifted herself off of him and took a second to figure out was going on. The burning was what was the immediate threat on both their minds.

"Something's burning." Yu pointed out.

The two looked at each other, before both bolting over to the door and rushing downstairs.

Chie's omelette was the one burning, and none of the females were noticing. Yu quickly turned off the burner and dumped the blacken mess of food into the garbage. Someone whacked him upside the head.

"What the hell?!" Chie yelled at him in anger.

"Your omelette was black and smelled horrible." Yu told her. "Yosuke, Kanji, Nanako, Teddie, surely you guys noticed."

"Oh, we did." Yosuke groaned. "She wouldn't believe us though and so we shut up and agreed that we would only jump in if it caught on fire."

Chie growled at them angrily and started over. Yu sighed. So much for a peaceful morning, not that he really expected one.

Regardless, he started on his own omelette. After about 5 minutes or so, all the omelettes were done. The gang gathered around the table. Rise's omelette was a red color, Chie's was just as black as the first one, Yuikiko's looked… all too normal, and Yu's, well, looked like the most normal one without being 'Yukiko' normal.

Everyone stared at the omelettes. "Mine first!" Rise yelled.

Not knowing what to expect from Rise as a cook, everyone took a small piece of the red omelette and stuck it in their mouths. Pretty much simultaneously, they all almost puked it out. Except Nanako, who was strong and swallowed it. The omelette was basically hot lava in a bit more of an edible form. A second passed and then Yukiko fainted. Kanji, being smart for once, checked to see if she had swallowed it. She hadn't, so he got her to puke it up onto the plate that held the remains of Rise's attempt at cooking. He passed the plate to Chie, who spit out hers.

Yu took the plate from her and spit his portion out. He passed it to Yosuke who did the same, passing it to Teddie, and the cycle continued. Yu quickly got up and poured everyone glasses of milk. He didn't even bother bringing them over to the table, as everyone came to him, gulping their glass down. After they had all recovered, Yu refilled the glasses and returned to his spot, as did everyone else; clutching their glasses, slightly frightened at what would come next.

Rise looked hurt, but Nanako, who somehow knew how to make the older female feel better, told her that it was really good. Rise was instantaneously happy again, and everyone knew right away that she wasn't really all that hurt by them downing milk because of her. OK, it probably hurt a lot, but that doesn't matter now.

Anyway, they decided Yukiko's looked safer than Chie's, and since they wouldn't have to face her criticism if it was horrible, hers was the next best bet.

After the nightmare that was Rise's omelette, everyone was hesitant at eating food from someone they knew was so much worse with the curry accident in their minds. Nanako once again took it like a champ and shoved the food in her food, clearly fearing the worst. She stopped, fork still in her mouth.

"N-Nana-chan?" Teddie asked.

Nanako removed the fork. "Um… It's… um." She couldn't seem to describe it, but it didn't seem like it was deadly, unless it was a slow moving poison.

Kanji was the next to shove the food into his mouth. "Um… boneless." Was all he said.

Yu decided that he should brave it next. It was indeed 'boneless'. "That is the best way to describe it all right. It's like eating air."

"That's… not possible." Chie pointed out.

"Well, somehow Yukiko managed it." Yosuke said after swallowing his piece.

"Let's just move on." Rise suggested.

Everyone agreed with her and tried to figure out if it was safe to eat Chie's blackened mess.

Yu yelled, "I'm going to burn my dread and try it, even if it kills me!" He reached forward while everyone yelled at him how stupid he was. Purposely, he then knocked over the plate. Everyone pretended they were sad that they didn't get to try it, but the truth was obvious. They hadn't been looking forward to it at all.

They quickly ate Yu's omelette, which was by far the best of the bunch. Yu was declared the winner of the cook-off. "I told you I would kick your ass." Yu said to Rise.

Rise stuck her tongue out at him in response.

"So, what's my prize?" Yu asked her with a slightly smug smile.

"Prize?" Rise asked. "I don't remember agreeing to any sort of 'prize.'"

"I'm the winner though. Shouldn't I get a prize?"

Rise beckoned Chie and Yukiko (Who had woken while everyone was munching on Yu's omelette) over to her, whispering to back and forth. Finally, they both looked over at him. "Your prize, Yu Narukami, is you have to go the festival on the 20th with us and buy whatever we want." Rise smiled evilly.

"Hell no, fuck that." Yu backed down; he wasn't going to do that.

"Why don't we all go?" Yosuke suggested.

"Will the girls wear yukatas?!" Teddie yelled excitedly.

"Not if you act like that." Chie told him.

"It doesn't sound like a horrible idea though." Rise said. "I've wanted to wear one for a while now. I haven't worn one since I was a little kid."

"I guess it's settled then. We're going to the festival." Yosuke said happily.

"Yay!" Chie yelled.

"OK, now that that's over and done with…" Rise moved the subject along. "What were you two doing last night?" She indicated to Yu and Naoto. "I swear I heard you whispering at, like, what, midnight? And then you were upstairs this morning."

All eyes were on them. Yu had to stop and think for a second, as he had completely forgotten about that. Then it clicked. "Oh, that." He looked at Naoto. "Should I?"

"Depends on how much trouble it would save." She sighed.

"Alright, long story short, saddening death anniversary, alright?" Yu told them.

"Who died?" Teddie asked coldly, though he didn't seem to notice how insensitive he was being. Yosuke thwacked him over the head.

"Can we not specify?" Naoto asked sadly.

"Yeah sure." Chie said. "We at least know enough to not get the wrong idea. I hope."

With that thought fresh in their minds, Yu quickly forced them out of his house. He spent the rest of the day just trying to clean the kitchen, never mind the rest of the house. In the end, though, he figured it was worth all the cleaning for the fun that happened, even if it was a little on the strange side.

* * *

><p><strong>That took a little longer to make then I had hoped. Ah, you can guess the poor cat had something to do with it. Seriously, I don't even think our poor dog even realizes that she's gone, and won't be coming back. The poor mutt.<strong>

**Anyway, I kind of had to force this out of my brain a little, so I have no fucking clue when the next one will be out. I have to let my creative juices or whatever come back to life. I think I stole too much from the stream, or some other strange metaphor that you can think of. In other words, I'm burned out.**


	39. Yu And Kanji Go A Little Crazy

**Oh boy, that was rather amusing to make. The fortune cookie thing came from a fortune cookie I got. Irony in a way there. This is a book to me!**

**Sorry this is a little short. It's only one day, but I'm too lazy today.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 39<p>

(1st) (Monday)

Today, Yu had absolutely nothing to do, so he decided to spend his time at the city. First thing he did was… walk into a PINK clothing store. It totally wasn't his style, but for some reason, he felt compelled to enter anyway. As to be expected, there were clothes. Lots and lots of clothes.

He was just about to turn tail and run away, but then out of the corner of his eye, he saw a Cheer Squad Set, 4 female and 4 male outfits. Without hesitation, he approached it, looking the set over. Amazingly, there were enough uniforms for the whole Investigation Team.

An employee came up to him. "Are you interested in the set?" She asked.

Yu turned around to face the woman, nodding.

"You're in luck then," the woman said brightly. "This is the last set."

"I hope they're all the correct sizes." Yu muttered to himself. "Anyway, I believe I have the money…" He pulled out his wallet, counting the money while the woman gathered the clothing.

The woman packed up the suits into a giant box and handed it to the teen, who paid her the correct money and took his leave, smiling devilishly for reasons even he could not decipher. After leaving with the box in his hands, he walked to the nearby café to have a drink while texting his friends that they would be going to the TV later that day, specifically after he got back from the city.

* * *

><p>(Later… in front of the TV…)<p>

Everyone jumped into the TV, except Yu and Naoto, who was understandably hesitant after being pushed in the first time. After a minute, Yu decided that if being slightly cruel was going to be the most effective method, he would go with it, shoving her in as she flinched away for the twentieth time. He jumped in a second later.

Upon landing in the TV, Yu declared, "Alright, we have plenty to do today! First, uniforms!" He threw the box he held to the ground in front of him. Everyone looked at it curiously, but didn't dare open it. For all they knew, it was a bomb. Course, he did say 'uniforms.'

Finally, Yosuke mustered up his courage and opened it, staring blankly at the Cheer Squad Set. "You… expect us to wear this stuff?" He pulled out the uniform on top, and eventually was throwing them all over his shoulder. Everyone picked them up and looked at them, all shocked; as apparently, they all were the correct sizes, when you found the correct person. Except Naoto and Teddie, but Teddie quickly swapped the outfits, saying that he would prefer the female's uniform anyway, which was kind of scary.

Yu picked up the one that would fit him. "I figured it would be fun. It's not like anyone's watching us. Now go change!" Everyone grumbled, but they figured it would be a little fun, so they might as well. As everyone disappeared, he noticed Naoto was still standing there, her exposed ears twitching in annoyance, the male outfit lying on the ground, forgotten. "Come on. You're one of us now, and the first thing you need to know, is that we are a bunch of weirdos. Teddie's wearing a female cheerleading outfit." Yu grinned as he imagined how it would look on him. He picked up the uniform.

"I'm not wearing such a ridiculous thing." Naoto scowled.

"Why not?" Yu pouted, pretending to be hurt.

"Just because I'm part of your 'group,' doesn't mean I want to be." She sighed.

Yu frowned. Then, he smiled gently. "Alright then, but I at least want to see my whole group in a uniform, even for a minute. Please?" He stared at her with puppy-dog eyes.

With obvious annoyance, Naoto took the uniform and left to find a decent place to change. Yu smiled happily, he didn't plan to let her get a chance to change out of it.

* * *

><p>(….)<p>

Yu stared at his group. Teddie looked all too happy in his female uniform, but everyone else seemed pretty neutral about it.

Yosuke and Kanji were chatting with Teddie, saying that he pulled off the look quite well, considering he was a guy, even if he was a blonde and had a high pitched voice. Chie, Yukiko and Rise were gathered around Naoto. They were all saying that with her short hair, if she wore that anywhere outside the TV; people could probably mistake her as a guy.

Everyone eventually stopped talking and looked to their leader. "Whoa, that looks like Izanagi, dude!" Yosuke pointed out. Yu summoned said Persona for comparison's sake. Yosuke quickly snapped a photo, showing it to his Alpha. Yu gaped at the similarity. It was almost frightening. All he really needed was a polearm for a weapon and a metal helmet. In fact, all he needed to do was put on his armor.

"First things first!" Yu called out to the group as his Persona disappeared into thin air. "We have to teach the rules of this world to our new member!"

"You say that like this is some sort of cult." Naoto muttered.

Yu pretended he didn't hear anything. "First off, don't worry about your injures, they heal when you leave." He started to walk to a particular spot, beckoning for the others to follow. "Second, that rule applies to your clothing as well. Third…" He turned around to face the group, as he was now standing in front of the pond they made a month ago or something like that. The water had yet to evaporate somehow. He summoned Naoto forward with a wave of his index finger. She hesitantly stepped forward.

"This rule deals with water, and what happens when you get wet…" Yu smiled evilly and moved to push his friend into the water. And suddenly she was gone. Yu lost his balance and fell in instead.

His head popped out of the water, spitting out the liquid. He glared at his group playfully, as they laughed their asses off. "Hah." He laughed gently, and slowly he was laughing so hard he was afraid he would bust a gut. Soon enough, the whole gang could hardly breathe, though it wasn't even that funny. Slowly, Yu climbed out of the pond, still snickering slightly.

"How'd you do that?" He asked Naoto.

She looked up at him, shrugging. "I don't know." She admitted.

Yu flicked his wrist, sending water spraying onto his friend. "What do you mean 'I don't know'? You did something."

Naoto wiped the water off her face. "You want me to push you back in there?" She threatened.

"I'm already wet. It won't make much of a difference." Yu replied.

"OK then." Naoto snickered and pushed him into the water.

Yu dragged himself out. "OK, I was just begging for that, wasn't I?"

Everyone nodded. Yu then shook himself like a dog in an attempt to dry a little quicker. Everyone was sprayed.

"I'm all wet now!" Chie complained.

"At least he doesn't smell like wet dog." Yukiko said, looking on the brighter side of things.

"That's a blessing." Yosuke said. "Seriously, I would hate to smell like a wet dog after every bath I take."

The group quickly agreed. That would make hiding their animal parts from the world so much harder.

"In any case, should we be off to Kanji's Toy Store?" Rise asked. "We've wasted at least 3 hours in here."

"Hardly so." Teddie said. "It's only been 2."

Everyone let out a groan and left for the fluffy-filled dungeon. Luckily, Kanji somehow restrained himself from the fluffy toys and instead beat the absolute shit out of any Shadow that dared made eye contact with him.

In the end, no one else got anything to smack, so by the time they had to leave, no one was sure of anything that Naoto could do. The good thing was that Kanji's area was completely cleared.

Everyone was about to exit when Yu cleared his throat to get their attentions. He pointed down at his cheer squad uniform. "Are you forgetting anything?" He asked them.

Yu was the first to finish changing, so he spent a good chunk of time waiting for the others. After some time had passed, he decided to do something productive, and focused his energies.

Through focus, and an incredible amount of sheer dumb luck, his ears disappeared from his head. Incredibly happy, he jumped up and started to run around in happiness. Then his ears popped back into existence, and he let out a childish sad sounding 'aww.'

For some reason, the whole group decided to then come back. "What happened?" Yosuke asked. "You sounded really sad there."

"I got my ears to disappear, but now they're back." Yu whined.

"Of course. What did you expect? That they would just disappear and reappear at the press of a button?" Rise sighed.

"I wish it worked like that." Yu whined like a child.

Chie leaned over to Yosuke and whispered, "Is it me, or does he had a personality disorder or something? He can go from confident Shadow-killing leader to whiny teen in the matter of a second."

Yosuke shrugged, unsure of what to think about this new revelation of his Alpha. Finally, he answered, "It might have something to do with his multiple Personas. I think it might be giving him a split personality."

Chie shook her head. "No, I don't think he has multiple personalities, it's just the one he has is a little fucked up."

Chie and Yosuke froze as Yu called them out. "What did you just say?"

Yu glared at them, the strange child side gone, and now he had a new side, one that looked like he was going to murder someone.

Thinking fast, Kanji shoved his leader through the TV before he could kill the two. "I'll deal with him, lead him away. Give me five minutes." Kanji jumped through the portal.

Everyone stared at the TVs. "What the hell is going on here?" Naoto finally asked the group.

"It's normally not this bad." Rise assured her. "Today just seems… How do I put this? I think Yu-kun got smacked over the head by one of the Shadows earlier, I think that's it."

"I thought that didn't cause any lasting brain damage though." Yukiko said. "He walked it off like all other injuries, so what made this one special?"

"It was a head injury." Yosuke pointed out. "Let's just pray to Izanagi that he doesn't want to kill us tomorrow."

"'Pray to Izanagi?' Is he the god you worship now?" Chie asked. "I thought you were an Atheist."

"What gave you that idea?" Yosuke asked her. "And I meant Izanagi, the Persona. Maybe it will speak to him or something, tell him to calm the fuck down."

"Right." Chie replied sarcastically.

When the five minutes were up, and Yu hadn't returned to kill Chie and Yosuke, the group figured it was safe, though most of them realized as they crossed over to their world that they had no reason to stay, if Yu only wanted to kill Chie and Yosuke.

With nothing else to say to each other, they returned to their separate residences and decided to not speak of Yu's personality/personalities ever again, under any circumstance.

* * *

><p>(Back with Yu…)<p>

Yu sighed. Somehow, Kanji had managed to ground him for a couple days, so now he was just sitting in his room dejectedly.

"Wait a second." He muttered to himself. He got off his couch and walked to his door, opening it to find Kanji staring at him menacingly; arms crossed and scowl on his face.

Yu stared at the tall freshman for a second before closing the door, turning around and returning to his still warm seat on the couch. He felt like he was a little kid. Luckily, he was a teenager, and if teens were good at anything, it was sneaking out of the house. Carefully, he slid open his window and crawled onto the roof, jumping off said location a second later.

As he somehow didn't break his ankles, he started going to the shrine, with purpose in his steps.

At the shrine, he pulled out a fortune slip, which read, 'You have a charming way with words and should write a book.' Yu stared at the fortune, confused. It was supposed to get Kanji off his back, not say something cheap from a fortune cookie. "Hang on…" Yu said to himself. "This is a fortune cookie fortune!"

He threw the fortune over his shoulder, reaching in again, this time pulling out something promising. Satisfied, Yu returned to his room, crawling through and closing the window. Kanji was in his room, so he probably hadn't found out that he was gone.

Suddenly, his phone vibrated. The message was from Chie, and it was about the movie, Return of Trial of the Dragon. It was out in theatres, and she wanted him to pay for her. He told her no guarantees. Kanji then stormed in and stole his phone. Yu stared at the door, which had been slammed closed, seriously confused.

With Kanji on guard duty, and nothing better to do, Yu decided to be productive again. It was nearing midnight, but he finally mastered the art of hiding his ears. Though now he was hungry, so he decided to go get some food. He opened the door, only to find Kanji was still standing there.

"Can I-" Yu tried to ask.

"No." Kanji said bluntly, not even letting him finish the request.

"Can I at least-" Yu started to ask to go to the bathroom.

"No." Kanji repeated.

"But I have to-"

"I told you, no!"

"But I have to go!" Yu managed to speak his words before Kanji could stop him.

Kanji sighed. "Fine." He said, and followed him to the restroom.

Yu was forced to return to his room after he was done. His stomach growled, but he had nothing edible in his room, so he was forced to go to be that night hungry, and wondering what the hell happened to Kanji and himself. They had both been a little crazy today…

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><p><strong>I think I've been reading too much Group of Weirdos, which made this chapter extra strange, but hey, progress. For those who don't know, it's the randomess fanfiction you will ever find beside Split Personality. It's LoZ, and all the bosses from OoT join a brain dead Link as he tries to stop Ganondorf. Funniest fucking thing I've read in forever.<strong>


	40. A Giant Ass Scale Shadow

**Hey there. I haven't been doing a whole lot with this thing in forever! So I finished this chapter, although it is a little short, one day at a time, right?**

**Anyway, I've decided to take down the original Chapter 36. It's bugging me that I have 40, now 41 one chapters up, but 1 of them are pretty much worthless. So if for some reason you people want to still have it around, then I might, I don't know, upload it as though it were its own story, though it is not in any way.**

** ANYWAY! Have fun...**

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><p>Chapter 40<p>

(2nd) (Tuesday)

When Yu woke that morning, he found that Kanji had left, which was probably because Dojima returned home and forced him out, but hey, he wasn't complaining.

Anyway, after getting up, and finding his phone, which had been hidden by Kanji, though he couldn't even leave his room, Yu sent a quick message to Yosuke and Chie telling them that he was sorry that he gave off a murderous vibe earlier. They quickly accepted his apology, as they had somehow heard that he had been locked in his room by a freshman. Some texting and 2 Nutella smothered eggos later, and it was decided that after Yu and Chie go to watch Return of the Trial of the Dragon, they would go to the TV, unless something incredibly interesting come into being.

A couple hours went by, and the movie was over, and Chie was in the mood to murder something dangerous. As it was the plan from the get-go, Yu called the others up and told them to meet the two in the TV. Chie then kicked the ever-living-shit out of any Shadow that was stupid enough to have not found a home in any of the numerous dungeons scattered throughout the world.

Today, the group was going to Rise's strip club. Kanji was very specifically told to not murder anything unless it was otherwise going to harm him.

Yu and Naoto were at the front, and everyone else was just hanging back a little. They rounded a corner and found themselves face-to-face with a giant scale-type Shadow. Rise's eyes widened and she took a couple steps back. "Guys, we can't fight this one!"

Yu glanced back at her. "Why not?"

"That thing's stronger than anything I've seen before!" With that one sentence, it was instantly decided that running was the best option. Sadly they were just far enough away from the stairs to make it a challenge, and in order for Teddie to teleport them out, they had to be standing still.

As it just so happened, the stairs were within sight soon enough, but then a bright light blinded them. When they could see again, it was revealed that their exit was blocked but an electric barrier. "Just lovely," Yu said, turning to face his enemy. The rest followed suit.

"Hey, am I allowed to murder this one as I please?" Kanji asked him.

Yu nodded. "Go right ahead, just don't kill yourself."

Kanji smirked and rushed the enemy, jumping and bashing its face in. The Shadow wasn't too happy with him and used a wind attack to send him flying into the nearest wall. He was out of the battle.

Everyone stared at his fallen body, stunned. "G-guys," Rise said, getting their attention. "It's charged up."

Wind magic started flowing at their feet. Thinking fast, Yu desperately shuffled through his Personas, and found one that he needed. He changed to Gabriel, though he never remembered obtaining it. The powerful magic flung the whole group into the air, though Yu and Yosuke felt no pain from it. Landing safely on the ground, Yukiko cast a heal spell.

Another quick shuffle and now Ganga was equipped, again, with no recollection of ever getting it. In any case, he started rapidly firing off ice spells, which did jack-shit. With an annoyed look on his face, Yu equipped his armor, and Yosuke did the same. The two quickly ran forward and simply bashed it. Apparently that did something, at least according to Rise's, "Guys, I don't what the hell's going on, just that's actually put a dent in it!" Quite literally too, as it now had a small dent at its bottom.

Taking that as a good thing, everyone else joined in, and soon its bottom half snapped off. The Shadow roared in pain and spun around, the scales hitting everyone and throwing them away from it. Yukiko quickly cast a Dia spell.

Yu felt magic flowing at his feet, and he looked down. The spot that he was standing in was now basically a portal to hell. Before he could react, he was pushed out of the way. The spell fired off, and Yu recovered from being shoved. He quickly stood when the spell was over with, and Naoto dropped to her knees with a groan. "That hurts. From now on, I'm not saving your ass."

Yu couldn't say he was too surprised by her taking the blow, it just seemed like it was a thing for her to get hurt around him by now. Regardless, Yu ordered Yosuke, Teddie and Chie to distract the Shadow while they care for the injured. Yukiko moved to awaken Kanji, not that he would help him too much, but he made a good meat shield and melee attacker. Yu changed to Pyro Jack, for fear that it might try and attack him with a fire move again, and kneeled down beside his friend, forcing some medicine down her throat.

The burns healed, and now with Kanji back up too, the four ran forward and bashed the ever-living-shit out of the broken-down Shadow. Rise watched the fight fearfully. It was holding back, she knew it.

The Shadow moved back, and charged up. The group waited to see what it would do. It waited for the same reason. Finally, it had enough and used its spell, Bufu, on Yu, who just so happened to be weak to ice at the moment. Ice covered him before anyone could move. The Shadow seemed to laugh at him and blow them all away with a wind spell. Yu smacked into the wall and then hit the ground, unable to move. He was surprised he could even breathe. Though he now had to worry about getting hypothermia.

Yosuke, seeing that their leader was down, took over. "Yukiko, thaw him out, ASAP! Chie, Kanji, and I'll keep it distracted! Teddie, Naoto, guard Yukiko!" Though no one should be that surprised that Yosuke could take over leadership, even after the slight disaster in the darkness of Naoto's area, they still had to take a second to process that he just ordered them around, and did so in a way that made some sense.

Yukiko kneeled down by Yu, and with some help from Naoto and Teddie, managed to flip him around without breaking any limbs off. Summoning her Persona, she called forth a light Agi spell, taking half of the flame and surrounding her hands with it.

"How'd you learn to do that?" Teddie asked as Yukiko ripped off the helmet.

"Lots of concentration." Yukiko replied, keeping her talking to a minimum as she gently ran her fingers around Yu's face, which was just the right amount of heat. Her Persona placed her hands over his heart, the area starting the thaw immediately.

Yosuke yelled out, "It's coming!" Everyone froze in shock. Slowly, they all tilted their heads to look at Chie, who was burned to a crisp, then to Kanji, again, knocked out by an wind spell, and next to Yosuke, who was paralyzed from an electric attack, and finally, their eyes rested on the quickly advancing giant scale Shadow.

"Don't freeze up!" Yu croaked, having thawed out just enough to speak. While Teddie seemed to be raring to go, Naoto was the exact opposite, backing up with fear in her eyes. She was forced to stop as the barrier nearly electrocuted her. "Summon your power!" Yu yelled at her, desperately trying to move.

Teddie was suddenly hit with an ice spell, followed by fire and then wind, sending him flying into the electric barrier. So now their only defense was scared out of her mind, and Yu was trying to stand with half-frozen limbs. The Shadow looked down at him and bonked him with one of its scales, causing him to fall over because his legs weren't melted at all. He let out a grunt as he smacked the floor again.

Yukiko then gave it a go and was knocked out just as easily as everyone else. Not quite caring that he would hurt himself, he ordered Pyro Jack to use an Agi spell on him. The fire burned him, but he shook it off, standing protectively in front of his friend.

"So," he started, staring down the Shadow. "What possessed you?" He briefly glanced back at her. "I thought you were a fearless detective."

"I don't think that applies when you're fighting a giant scale," she pointed out.

"Always bringing logic into things," Yu let out an exaggerated sigh. "Very few things are logical here, get over it." He ripped off his gloves, his nails sharpening as his powers awakened. "So come on and join the fun." He grinned at her and ran forward at his enemy, slashing at it until he was knocked away with a wind spell leaving him sitting up against the wall, trying to get air back into his lungs.

The Shadow loomed over him. He growled at it. It growled back, surprising him, as he didn't know a sentient scale could do such a thing. He glared and asked it, though he figured it wouldn't understand, "Why are you here? You're surrounded by weaklings."

The Shadow seemed to laugh, as though it was saying, 'I enjoy beating up the weak ones.'

"What a bully you are," he snarled. The Shadow somehow managed to grin while it only possessed a mask for a face.

It prepared for the finishing blow, when a figure rushed by it, and a couple seconds passed as it stood stock-still. Suddenly, a light gash appeared on its mask. It seemed to glance down in confusion. Yu looked at the figure, and found Naoto, who was now the exact opposite from a minute ago, growling at the Shadow and flexing her fingers, nails sharpened into deadly claws.

"I had enough of you, don't hurt my friends!" She yelled at it in a rage.

The Shadow snarled as though challenging her to try and best it. She took it up on its challenge and shot forward, faster than a bullet. A couple seconds passed, and Yu realized that attempting to keep track of her was useless, and he would only end up hurting himself.

The Shadow shrieked and flailed in a poor attempt to get the girl off, finally wising up and using a wind spell, knocking her off. Instead of just hitting the wall, though, she planted her feet firmly on it and launched off. The Shadow saw this and levitated out of the way. It wasn't fast enough, however, and claws raked across its mask. It let out an ear piercing shriek as its other injuries caught up to it and it dissolved into shadowy remains.

Yu watched in stunned silence as Naoto looked down at her hands and then proceeded to try and wipe away the Shadow goop that was now sticking to them. After a second, he scrambled to get up and ran over to her.

He stumbled over his words as he attempted to understand what happened. She raised an eyebrow at his failed attempt at speaking. He took a deep breath. "How did you do that? And what was up with the sudden change? One minute you're trembling in fear, the next you're kicking that thing's ass!"

She shrugged. "I don't really know. It happened, but I don't know how."

"It kind of reminds me of earlier, at the pond, remember? You disappeared as I moved to push you in, and then I ended up getting wet instead."

She snorted, before looking around at the devastation they had caused, the amusement wiped clean from her face. "Do you always leave this much destruction in your wake?"

Yu acted as though insulted. "I'll have you know that it is never this bad. Must be because you're here."

She jabbed him in the side with her elbow. "And what's that supposed to mean?!"

Before he could answer, Rise came running up to them. "Guys, what the hell happened?"

After a second of thinking, Yu asked, "Where were you? Some support role you play, were you even here?!"

"Nope," she answered sheepishly. "I found a nearby room and decided to hide there until it was gone."

"So you basically left us for dead?" Naoto interpreted her words.

"I won't put it like that, but…" She trailed off. The two sighed.

"Someone want to help me now!?" Yosuke yelled some way away, catching their attention.

It then hit them that they had to help their teammates. Yu shoved some revival beads in Naoto's hand and told her to go wake Yukiko. She looked at it, unsure as to how to even use it. Yu quickly told her how and rushed off to help out Yosuke, who had somehow managed to get over his paralyses long enough to somehow fall flat on his face, and was stuck like that. He was still wearing his helmet, but that didn't stop it from looking extremely uncomfortable.

Yu took a second to chuckle at his misery before rolling him over. After a minute, however, he realized that he had no idea what to do about his friend's current state, so he instead called over Yukiko, who had since woken up. While Yukiko was dealing with Yosuke, the rest of the group was woken, and their wounds were treated.

"That hurts…" Kanji muttered. "Rise wasn't kidding when she said that thing was tough."

Yu couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, you were knocked out, twice."

"Shut up!" Kanji yelled before groaning, as he now had a bad headache.

Refraining from laughing again, Yu called out to the group, "Alright, I think it's safe to say we should call it a day." The responses he got were sighs of relief and groans of pain.

Not wanting to make Teddie do anything, considering he was half asleep, he started looking for a Goho-m. Fishing around his near endless pockets, he somehow managed to find one of the desired item, so he gathered the group and activated it, transporting to the entrance. They took a couple minutes to rest before returning to their world.

(In their world…)

First thing that Yu did back in the human world (other than want to go home and sleep the day away) was go to Daidara's because his armor was in shambles.

Daidara was stunned at the damage done. Cracked, signs that it had been frozen, plus the helmet and gloves had ripped off. This only made the metalsmith curious to know just what in hell these crazy kids were doing. Yosuke's armor, which the Beta had shoved into Yu's hands because he was too lazy and tired to go the job himself, was in much better shape, but that didn't mean it was like new.

Anyway, Daidara wasn't exactly happy with the fact that two of his masterpieces were a disaster, so he shoved his customer out of the store and to come back in a couple days. The last thing that he was told was that Chie's armor was completed by now and she needed to come pick it up. Yu sent a quick text to tell her and then wandered back home, muttering a 'hello' to Nanako and Rie before retreating to his room and promptly falling asleep.

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><p><strong>With that done... Have a good day, now go away, you bother me. (Please note that is mean to be in a joking tone, and I do not wish to harm anyone in anyway, I love you all.)<strong>


	41. Letters, Marie, And Plenty Of Jokes

**It doesn't feel like it's only been a month since the last one of these. Ah, Kid Icarus and TWEWY, as well as other stories will do that to a person. Anyway, this is about 3020 words, so that's pretty good.**

**Oh, and I finished Kanji's Link finally. And started to do shit with Marie again. I kind of forgot about her, if that wasn't obvious.**

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><p>Chapter 41<p>

(3rd) (Wednesday)

After having slept most of the day away, to 3 o'clock to be exact, Yu looked down at his phone and found that Ai had tried to call him. "Whoops," he muttered unsympathetically, as he hardly cared.

Walking downstairs, he was greeted by Nanako, who was quite confused with the fact that most of his day had been wasted by sleeping, and he had gone to bed at about 6. "Big bro, why were you asleep that long?" She asked.

Yu sighed. "It's called being a lazy teenager in the middle of summer," he answered, digging through the fridge for food, though the best thing he found was an alarm clock. Looking it over, he asked, "Why is there an alarm clock in here?"

Nanako glanced at it before turning her attention back to the TV. "Dad was running late."

"Ah, alright," Yu nodded and set the clock on the table as though it was perfectly normal. Rie laughed at them for this. "Well, I'm off to kill some people. See you later." He was gone before he could see Nanako's shocked expression.

Walking along the sidewalk, not that it mattered with the pitiful amount of cars that were actually driven in the town, Yu just so happened to run into Kanji.

"Hey Senpai!" He called out. Yu inwardly groaned because he didn't want to deal with more Social Link cuckoo-craziness, not after the last one. "Mind if I talk to you?"

"Alright," Yu replied, reminding himself over and over, 'It's the last time I'll have to go through this with my teammates. Let's get this over with.'

And so, the next thing he knew, he was back in his room with Kanji standing by the window and Rie constantly trying to get into the room, and Yu constantly pushing her away. "So what's this about?" He asked, casually pushing Rie out of the room again as though she was an annoying fly that just wanted to be swatted out of the air, but no one wanted to, so it just kept bugging people.

"Yeah, sorry, I kind of barged in," Kanji apologized. "This just seemed like it was a good spot." He looked at Rie as her head popped through the door again. "Clearly, I was wrong."

"I think that's pretty obvious, but go on," Yu pushed Rie out once again.

"Well, Rise came into the shop a couple days ago, and she commented that my dolls were adorable. I told her I made them, and she said it was creepy."

"She just amazing at making people feel good, huh?" Yu asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, right? So anyway, I showed some of my other work, and she finally said that it was really cool. The way she said it annoyed the shit out of me though. But I finally learned. I gave up too easily, and just accepted the idea that no one would understand the real me. But now I see that if I try, then I can get people to care about me, the real me. So now, I've made two rules for myself. One, be myself. Two, get people to understand me if they don't to begin with. Oh, and I made you this." He handed Yu a **cute strap**. "I guess you were right, I didn't really need you to finally say that my Shadow is 'me.' Seriously though, you really should get a job as a psychiatrist or something."

Yu laughed as Kanji's Persona changed into Rokuten Maoh, who looked a lot more fire based than he actually was, which confused the two of them.

"Oh, so now I'm stronger, is that it? Why does he look like he has a fire affinity then?" Kanji asked, while Yu shrugged as an unhelpful reply. "Thanks…"

Igor's voice appeared in his head. "Young master, I have some exciting news for the both of us. You've completed Kanji Social Link, so you can finally stop bugging me about on-rail Links with your teammate! And for this, you get an adorable strap, and the ability to fuse a Persona that you will never both to get, Odin."

"Oh, hey, speaking of fusing Personas and such, why do I have a bunch of Personas I don't remember getting?"

"You don't keep up to date with your Personas, so Margaret has been tasked with doing it for you. Don't rely on it too much, but if you're going to be too lazy…"

"Oh, neat. Thanks," Yu said, now wondering how this was possible.

"Yes, well, now go back to Kanji," Igor told him, disconnecting.

"So, anyway," Yu turned his attention back to Kanji. "Later I'm doing an 'Oven Mitt Puppet 101 class. You should join in."

Backing away, Yu said, "I don't think so, unless I get real bored. Now why don't you go get some rest, changing Personas is really exhausting for non-Wild Cards, as I've figured out."

Kanji yawned. "You got that right. Alright, well, bye. Make sure I don't kill myself going down the stair, please."

After Kanji successfully didn't kill himself on the stairs, Yu settled himself in front of the TV and watched the senseless violence that occurred as a coyote tried to catch a roadrunner. Strange American TV shows. At least he knew enough of the language to know that the schemes that the coyote constantly tried should have killed him by that point.

The rest of the evening was more than peaceful enough for the tired teen.

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><p>Skip to (7th) (Sunday)<p>

After Wednesday, Yu lazed about and did want most teens would do during summer when they had nothing to do. But Sunday finally came, and he figured he had to get off his lazy ass and see the old woman who was surely waiting by the river, even though she had last said that she no longer wished to see him.

And waiting she was. In fact, when he sat down beside her, she said, "I half-expected you to have given up. The other half knew you'd come though. Men can't really decide on one thing or another."

"That seems correct," Yu replied, earning a laugh from the old woman.

"I guess I'm not the only one to notice that. Hey, you remember that before we were married, my husband and I could only see each other once a year, right? We exchanged letters, all the time to make up for it. I would wait by the mailbox, waiting all day, wondering when the next letter would arrive. Whenever one did come, I was ecstatic, but held off on reading them immediately because I felt that was wasteful. But I wanted to reply so badly, so I would read the letter, over and over."

"What were the letters about?" Yu asked.

"You know, I forget. Haha!" She laughed. "When you find someone you love, try writing a letter for them. Just one line can convey more feelings than 100 speeches." She frowned. "I've lost the letters he sent me. I thought that I had kept them safe. But I guess I didn't. Not like I need them anymore, anyway."

Yu mentally noted that tomorrow, he was going to go on a hunt for the letters, maybe rope a couple friends in as well to spice things up…

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><p>(8th) (Monday)<p>

Today, Yu decided that he wanted to find those letters of Hisano's. Shouldn't be too hard, right? Well, he wasn't so sure, but he'd found some pretty ridiculous things shoved in some pretty ridiculous places.

But, just to make it a little more interesting, and a little easier, he called up his good ol' detective friend.

"Hello?" She muttered drowsily upon picking up the phone.

"You sound half-asleep. Did you just wake up?" Yu laughed.

"Shut up. I got home late last night, as in, about 11, and the stupid dog wouldn't quit yapping."

"Hey, you shouldn't call her stupid," Yu scolded playfully.

"I don't care," she replied, annoyed. "What do you want?"

"You could at least try to sound perky. Anyway, want to come with me on a letter hunt?"

There was a moment of silence. "Letters? You woke me because you can't find letters?"

"Not me," Yu replied. "You see, on the weekends, I hang out with this old woman by the river when I have nothing better to do. Turns out she lost the letters from her husband from before they were married. I know they're somewhere in Inaba, but it's actually a little big when you're trying to find something so small. So I'd figured I'd enlist some help so I could get it done today."

There was a sigh. "Fine, just give me a couple minutes."

"Cool, let's meet by the shrine, OK?" There was a noise that didn't quite sound like 'sure,' but he took it as one and hung up, getting ready for the day.

Sometime later, Yu was chatting with the fox when Naoto arrived, Meinu barking at her to take off the leash and collar, though none of it was understood.

"You really need to teach me to understand what she's saying," Naoto muttered as she shut the dog up by grabbing her muzzle.

"If you think she's annoying now, you'd hate to understand her," Yu replied, stretching. "Ready?"

"As much as I'll ever be," she replied. "So, what's the dog barking about anyway?"

"About how she doesn't want to be wearing a collar," Yu translated.

"Ah, fun," she looked the dog straight in the eye. "The collar isn't coming off." Meinu whined unhappily, but stopped her yapping.

"Ok, so 'Ace Detective,' how do we begin?"

"Me? I thought I was only around to keep you company?"

"I never said that. I wanted help, not someone to follow me around like Rie when she's bored."

"Decent point. Did the lady say anything about where she left it?"

"No, just that she thought she left them somewhere safe. Clearly she didn't."

"Then we really can't proceed unless someone's known her since her teenager years, and is still alive."

Yu sighed. "Well shit. Since you're already out of bed, want to accompany me to Daidara's?"

Naoto yawned. "I don't know. Do I have to?"

Yu laughed. "Yes."

"Fine," she groaned, smiling slightly all the while.

Over at Daidara's, Yu burst it. "Good morning to you, sir!" He yelled out, causing Daidara to almost kill himself with one of his blades that he was holding. "Whoops," he muttered when he saw the metalsmith's glare.

"Yeah, whoops," Daidara muttered, putting the blade where it belonged before it could actually kill him. He threw Yu the watch that contained his armor, Yosuke's as well. "I'm assuming this is what you want. Now go away."

"My, aren't you prickly?" Yu joked. He tossed the old man some money. "Hey, you're one of the oldest guys around here that isn't senile, do you know Hisano Kuroda?" Naoto elbowed him painfully in the side. "What?"

"Don't you know it's rude to call people 'old'?"

"Yes, I am. I'm not saying that he's stupidly old or anything, I'm saying he's older, and might know what happened to Hisano's letters, alright?"

"Hisano, you say?" Daidara broke in. "Yeah, I've known her awhile. What's this about her letters?" Yu quickly explained the situation to him. "Ah, I think I might have them actually. I'm a bit of a nut, if you can't already tell. I not only specialize in weapons, but old historical things. I think I have them lying around somewhere in the back." He left to go check.

"Well, that didn't quite turn out horrible," Yu smiled.

"You almost killed a man," Naoto reminded him.

"Ah, but I didn't," Yu reminded her.

Daidara returned, holding a box of letters. "Here they are. Tell Hisano 'hello' for me, OK?"

Yu nodded and picked up the box. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it. So long as I know she's doing well."

"Well, she can only be doing so well. Her husband died a while back, and I remind her of him, and that really isn't helping anything."

"Then why the hell do you keep going to see her?" Naoto asked.

"Because she enjoys my company," Yu responded, leaving the store with her not far behind. "And she actually gives really good love advice."

"Because you think you can actually get a girl," Naoto laughed.

"Of course I can," Yu frowned. "I could get a lot of girls if I wanted."

"What makes you think that?"

"Have you seen this face?" Yu smiled at her.

"Yes, I have, but I have yet to see any girls fall head over heels for you."

"What about Rise?"

"I think she likes Teddie, and just isn't admitting it."

Yu laughed. "Yeah, that's true. OK then, who else…" He trailed off playfully as he got an idea.

"No one else would think about dating you, get over it."

"That's not true." He could tell Naoto was skeptical about his playful tone, and that something was up. "What about you?"

Caught off guard, she stopped walking. "Excuse me? Do you think I'm insane?"

Yu stopped too, looked back at her, and pouted, trying to look hurt. "Oh, come on. You know you would if you had the chance."

"Again, do you think I'm insane?"

"I don't 'think,' I know." Yu grinned.

Naoto frowned. "That's it. I'm done here." She turned on her heel and walked away, while Yu laughed.

* * *

><p>Skip to (10th) (Wednesday)<p>

Today, Yu realized something. He had been neglecting spending time with Marie. Igor had requested some time ago to make sure she wasn't in the Velvet Room a whole lot, but apparently he approached that like a lot of things, without a lot of vigor.

And so now he was going to see the Velvet people, because he also had to try and finish Margaret's link. As it turned out, he couldn't work on Margaret's link, because that shit was still a little crazy, so he decided to hold off on it. It was then that the 'honor' of watching Marie for a couple hours was shoved on him like an unwanted job.

As they walked, Marie proclaimed, "We're going to that Joo-nes place I've heard about." It wasn't a request, it was a demand.

So, soon enough they were at the Junes food court. "Get me something to drink. Nothing too sweet, but no water."

'More demands.' Yu mentally sighed. 'Does she have any manners?'

Before he could move, Teddie suddenly came running up. "Sensei-knight! Morning!" He spied Marie. "Who's this? Did you finally manage to get a girl?"

"Why has that been a topic of interest lately? Naoto was joking about it yesterday too. I'm not that bad at getting girls."

Ignoring Yu's annoyance, Marie looked Teddie over. "What's this thing? It's moving. Gross."

Teddie sniffed sadly. "How could you be so cruel? I'm cute."

"It talks too? But how? What are you made off?"

"I'm 50% kindness," Teddie answered.

"What about the other 50%?" Marie asked, clearly becoming more confused as more questions were answered.

"Teddie fur," Teddie answered as though it was obvious.

Marie was at a loss. Before Teddie could confuse her anymore, Yosuke appeared. "Oh, hey there, Marie-chan. You having to show her more places, Alpha?"

Yu sighed, hanging his head. "Yeah, sadly. At least Teddie's able to keep her attention."

"I'm bored," Marie stated, earning another sigh from Yu.

Luckily, then Kanji decided to join the fray. "Yo, Yosuke-senpai, about that CD…" He stopped. "Who're you?"

Ignoring Kanji's question, she asked, "Who's the old fart?"

"H-hang on a second, dammit, I'm not old!" Kanji yelled, quickly growing annoyed at everyone as they laughed.

As it just so happened, then Rise joined in. "Kanji, I thought you were going to talk to Yosuke-senpai about-" She stopped when she saw Yu, but before she could say a hello, she saw Marie. She looked her up and down and overall started to scare Marie. "Whoa," she finally muttered. Rounding on Yu, she asked, "Who's this? What's she doing with you?"

"Does it matter?" Yu asked.

"I know you," Marie spoke. "I heard about you from Margaret. "'Someone even I can't handle.'"

Yu laughed. "Yeah, just about."

"That's not right!" Rise yelled. "It goes, 'Something even I can handle!'"

Marie shrugged indifferently. "It's not that different."

"Yes it is!" Rise yelled. She rounded on Yosuke now. "What's wrong with her?"

"Why ask me?" Yosuke yell defensively. "She's Marie-chan, Alpha's mate…"

"'Mate?!'" Rise yelled in a rage.

"Whoops, sorry Alpha," Yosuke apologized.

Luckily, before it could escalate, Chie and Yukiko entered the scene. "Oh, how convenient," Chie said.

Seeing Marie, Yukiko said, "Oh, good morning Marie-chan."

"You know her?" Kanji asked.

Yukiko nodded. "Some time ago, we shopped at the mall with her."

"Oh, which high school do you go to? Wait, you're younger than me," Kanji thought for a second. "What middle school then?"

"Middle school," Marie seemed offended. "You're rude, old fart."

Kanji growled. "I'm not old, dammit!"

"Now that I think about it, I don't know a lot about you, Marie-chan," Yosuke pointed out. "Where do you live? Are you here on vacation?"

"I-I don't remember," Marie told them.

"Yosuke, you're scaring her!" Chie growled.

"Yeah, not very sub-buttle of you," Kanji said, not catching his mistake.

"Sub-buttle?" Yu asked, starting to laugh.

"What's that? It's pronounced subtle," Rise corrected.

"Kanji's got a sub-buttle!" Teddie joked.

"Don't make me think about your butt!" Rise yelled. "You're the most un-subtle person I've ever met."

Yukiko started laughing. "Un-subtle sub-buttle. That's fun to say." This caused everyone, except Kanji and Marie, to start laughing. Eventually though, Marie cracked. Kanji just walked away with a huff of annoyance.

Eventually, everyone disappeared, leaving only Marie and Yu. "They're funny. But I don't get them. They're loud and stupid. Sub-buttle," she laughed.

"That's what makes them fun to hang around. It never gets boring." Yu explained.

Marie nodded. "Right. Are they the ones that faced their 'true selves'?" Yu nodded. "I see. I think I should start trying to get my memories back. One of these days, I'll remember. But until then, I want to be like them."

"Stupid and loud?" Yu joked. "I can help with that."

Marie nodded. "Please do. Not like I know what to do. But next time. I want to go home now."

Yu nodded and escorted her back to the Velvet Room.

* * *

><p>(11th) (Thursday)<p>

Getting completely bored, Yu spent the whole day riding his motorcycle around the place. He had the whole area a couple miles around mentally mapped out by the time it was mid-day, so he ended up buying a THICK book and just reading for the rest of the day.

That night was just as boring, if not more so. He ended up going to wash dishes for the crazy shop owner with the fish named Akihiko. After that, he fished for a while, catching some fish, which he figured he could sell, so he shoved the wet, squirming creatures into his pocket until he ran into Daidara on his way home, so they did a quick 'trade', though it surprised the metalsmith to suddenly be holding squirming fish, and a couple hundred yen was missing from his wallet.

* * *

><p><strong>There we go! It seriously felt like more than a month. Felt like much more... I hate school sometimes. Makes time feel some much more different than it really is.<strong>


	42. Mitsuo's Attack and the Ensuing Chaos!

**Ended up skipping Marie's 6th Social Link event, because I deem it unnecessary for the most part.**

**Also, I summoned Satan in Persona 3, complete with the strongest wind spell and a Wind Amp. Rather ironically, he's weak to wind. FYI, I murdered Nyx when I combined Black Viper and Odin's Mind Charge.**

**Ok, so for those who care, I was playing through most of Persona 3 so I could get a max Social Link run. I managed it, and was attempting to gather Personas for Orpheus Telos. I was about to fuse Chu You, or whatever you call it, and I spotted Satan as the only other thing I could fuse with those two Personas I already had selected. For the hell of it, I looked at the spells and skills he would inherit should I fuse him. Then I saw the strongest wind spell, which I had on my Horus, as well as a Wind Amp. I was stunned, and ended up making it. I don't regret it.**

**Anyway, that's what I was doing for the longest time. I made half of this, and then started to play Persona 3, and finally finished it. So, I come on to the computer, found a huge amount of NON-MALWARE and finished writing this.**

**Also, 42! If anyone understands what that means, you HAVE to leave a review that informs me of why that is so amazing!**

* * *

><p>Chapter 42<p>

(12th) (Friday)

It was downpouring this particular day, so with nothing to do, but not about to have another lazy streak like a couple days previous, Yu took to wandering the town.

At one point or another, he got to the river, where the old man that he caught the River Guardian for some time back was watching the water flow.

"Good morning," Yu greeted. "What're you doing?"

"Watching the fish," the old man answered simply.

"Hey, do you know anything about sea fishing?" Yu asked after a second of thinking about fish.

"Sea fishing?" The old man parroted. "Yeah, I know a bit. The river is getting to be a little boring to fish from, huh?"

Yu laughed. "Yeah. Yesterday I caught some fish and traded them with Daidara, but he seemed a little surprised that I handed him some slippery, wet fish."

The old man chuckled. "Alright then, here." He held out a fishing rod. "This is a nice sea rod. Those sea critters are cruel though. Careful."

Yu accepted the rod. "Thank you." He turned around and left.

* * *

><p>Some time later, Yu had driven out on his motorcycle, getting soaked in the process, to the beach. After having set everything up, he started to fish. He caught a couple small fry, but it didn't really matter much to him, as he was basically just passing the time, and ended up throwing them back. Then <em><span><strong>IT<strong>_ happened. There was a light tug at the line, so Yu prepared himself for another fish, which was medium sized at best.

But then there was a sudden yank that almost pulled the teen into the water. "So, we have a fighter here," he muttered, planting his feet firmly on the slippery rock beneath him as he steeled himself for a challenge.

And a challenge it was. The fish dived this way and that, trying to snap the line it was now hooked to, but Yu held on, for at least 5 minutes, and (somehow) expertly guided the fish closer to the shore. When the giant fish was just about flopping on the rocks, he gave a strong tug and pulled the fish up, examining it. "Dude," he smiled, realizing that he sounded like Yosuke.

He pulled out his phone and held the fish close to him so he could get a good picture that used him as something to compare it to. But it reached his feet, and was flopping around to the point where it was basically worthless, and his phone was quickly becoming drenched. So, he snapped a decent enough picture and shoved his phone back in his pocket. Carefully, he unhooked the fish, and sent it back into the sea.

His arms now tired, he checked his phone to wipe away most of the water to avoid damaging it. After it was dry enough, he packed up his stuff and hopped back on his bike.

* * *

><p>About 10, 20 minutes later, Yu had pulled into the garage of his uncle's house. Nanako seemed oddly stunned at how he looked like he had been dunked in a pool 2 minutes ago.<p>

"What do you mean, 'Why are you all wet?'" Yu asked upon her questioning why he was wet. "I was just out for, what, an hour fishing, while it's pouring out there, and you're asking why I'm soaked?"

"Right, sorry," Nanako frowned. "But why were you out there anyway? It's not good for you."

Yu laughed. "Yeah, well, I was bored." He took out his phone. "But look at this fish. It's taller than me!"

Nanako gazed at the picture. It wasn't very good, but it defiantly got the point across. Laughing at her impressed expression, he went to change into some dry clothes.

Later, during dinner, the news was on. There was a small weather report that showed that there was going to be a very light fog that'll settle in due to the amount of rain that there had been, but Yu was pretty sure that it wasn't the Midnight Channel, 'you're going to die' level of fog. It was going to rain all past midnight too, so there was hopefully nothing to worry about.

* * *

><p>(13th) (Saturday)<p>

As there was no one freaking out about dead bodies hanging from telephone poles, and it was still a decent amount of foggy the next morning, Yu knew that they hadn't fucked anything up.

So he took to wandering the town because he had nothing better to do. He was passing by the Velvet Room door when Marie burst out and yelled, "You're late!" Scaring the shit out of the poor boy, and everyone else around, all of which somehow missed that she just jumped out of thin air. "Come on, you said you were going to help me, so help me."

"What, act stupid and loud?" Yu joked.

"No, recover my memories," Marie frowned.

"I don't remember agreeing to that, but, why not?" Yu shrugged before Marie grabbed his wrist and started dragging him.

Down at the river bank, she turned around and looked him in the eye. "So, what do I have to do?"

Yu shrugged. "I don't know, meditate?"

Marie sighed. "Ugh, you aren't helpful at all!" She pulled out a wooden comb. "This is all I have. Couldn't it be used as a clue or something?"

Yu studied the comb. "Yeah, it might be. A couple days ago, Daidara mentioned that he collects old things, so maybe he has an idea. I highly doubt that's just sold somewhere, after all."

Marie nodded. "Alright then, let's go!"

* * *

><p>Down at Daidara's, Marie seemed surprised at the various things that Daidara sold, finding them incredibly odd, which, admittedly, they were.<p>

While they were looking around, Yukiko entered, followed by Teddie, who was dragging an annoyed Rise behind him. "Oh, good morning," Yukiko greeted. Yu glanced at the three. Yukiko took notice and explained, "I was getting supplies for the inn and ran into Teddie, who was bugging Rise for another date. I got them to help out. Rise's a little unwilling, but I need the extra help, so she's just trying to ignore Teddie."

Marie glanced at Teddie. "Who's this?"

Teddie pouted. "I can't believe you forgot about me, Teddie, the King of the TV World!"

'Haven't heard him proclaim that in a while,' Yu thought to himself.

Yukiko nodded. "You haven't seen him outside his costume, have you? Well, anyway Marie-chan, just ignore his rambling about being a King, OK?"

Teddie's mouth fell open. "How dare you suggest I'm not a King?!"

"I thought you were done with that…" Yu muttered.

Teddie turned his attention to his leader. "Sensei-knight, you too?" Yu merely nodded, as Teddie hung his head while he fell into depression.

"So, anyway," Yukiko continued on, expertly not paying attention to Teddie, or Rise as she poked him, laughing when he didn't move. "What're you here for?"

"Research," Yu answered quickly.

"O…k…?" Yukiko more or less asked.

Marie brought out her comb. "I'm trying to find out about this."

"Well, that's unique," Yukiko said, analyzing it. "You want Daidara to look at it, right?"

Yu nodded. Marie walked forward, showing the comb to the store's owner.

"Wow," was all he said as he looked it over. "Quite old, good condition, nice craftsmanship," he started to drone on.

Yu snapped his fingers in the old man's face. "Hello? We want to know about it, please!"

"Nope, sorry," the man said. "Don't know anything. Can't even tell when it was made." Marie seemed down after hearing that. "I can, though, tell you what it's made of. It isn't average bamboo. It's similar to a rare type that grows in the Chugoku region, but it's not. It's so beautiful though, as though it were from another world."

"What world?" Teddie stupidly asked, forgetting that normal humans don't know of other worlds.

Daidara shook his head. "I don't know! What I do know is that you'd better hope it wasn't a gift. The word 'comb' (Kushi) combines words of Death (Shi) and Pain (Ku). They're known to cause separation."

At that moment, Marie got a major headache. She crouched slightly and put her hands on her head. "Don't go hurting yourself!" Daidara yelled in a panic.

A moment went by, and the pain went away. Her hands dropped and she straightened. She groaned. "Something finally pops up, and then it disappears! I hate this!" She turned and left, saying, "I'm going back to the room."

"Um, have fun…?" Rise called out in confusion as she wasn't sure what should be said. With nothing better to do, everyone left the store.

* * *

><p>As Yu started to go home, he stopped by the local book store to see if anything new had been released. There was nothing that interested him besides 'super advanced fishing techniques.' He had already caught what he assumed was the Sea Guardian, so he couldn't care less about that book, really.<p>

On his way out, he spied Naoto on the other side of the street. He was just about to cross over to say a friendly 'hello,' when he spotted a boy sprinting along, a crowbar clutched in his hand. He had a crazed look in his eyes, and didn't take his eyes off Naoto as she walked.

Sensing danger, Yu sprinted to the other side of the road. Out of the corner of her eye, Naoto saw him and stopped, turning to face him. The boy raised his tool, obviously intent on striking. The next thing the poor boy knew, though, was that he was receiving a boot to the head.

Naoto turned to face him as the weapon fell from the boy's hand, as he was knocked out. "Why'd you do that?" She asked, stunned.

"That boy, he was going to hurt you," Yu glared at him.

"And you know that because…?"

"He was sprinting, keeping his eyes on you, overall just looked crazed, and raised his crowbar to strike a couple seconds before I hit him. He didn't even notice me."

Naoto raised an eyebrow. "OK, so what do you plan on doing with the unconscious boy now?"

Yu shrugged. "I don't know. Leave him?"

"Do you really think that's wise? If he really wasn't trying to smash my skull in and even if he was, leaving him means he could run to the police and have you charged with battery."

Yu rolled his eyes. "That's fun," he muttered sarcastically.

Naoto nodded. "Exactly. And regardless, the whole book store over there probably saw it." She pointed with her thumb at said store.

"Right," Yu sighed. "OK, what do you suggest?"

"Wait, I guess," she said, unsure. "Find out what he was really doing, and go from there."

Yu picked up the crowbar. "Fine, but I'm going to hold the crowbar in case he really did want to kill you."

In this time, Yu realized that he looked oddly familiar… But he couldn't remember where he'd seen the kid. Naoto knew no more than he did.

* * *

><p>Five minutes went by, and Yu was starting to become anxious, his mind starting to imagine all the various scenarios that could happen upon the boy waking. Finally, he opened his eyes and glanced at the two as he sat up. He saw that Yu held his crowbar as the eared boy crouched to see him at eye level. A moment passed in silence, and then the boy lunged forward, snatching at the weapon. Yu had been expecting it and jumped up. The boy stood and reached for it, but Yu used his height as an advantage and held it out of the boy's reach.<p>

However, he then kicked Yu in the shin, snatching the crowbar when he was in shock. Once again gripping the weapon of mass destruction, he started to swing wildly at Naoto, who easily dodged all attacks. The boy grew annoyed and his already wild swinging got even crazier. Yu jumped forward in an attempt to stop him. The only thing that was accomplished was getting smacked painfully in the face. A second later, he passed out…

* * *

><p>The sound of a gun going off and an ear-piercing shriek woke the poor teen. Yu shot up, ready to anything. Almost anything, that is.<p>

The boy, who Yu now recognized as the one from the rival school that asked Yukiko out at the beginning of the year (he was blaming the sudden remembrance on the hit to the head), had been shot through the foot. It was obvious that the fight had gotten out of hand if Naoto had drawn her gun. But somehow, in the couple of seconds that Yu had taken to assess the situation, the boy had stolen said gun and now was taking aim. How he wasn't on the ground, screaming in pain, was a mystery that shall confuse all who think about it too hard.

Before he could shoot, Yu tackled him. As they went down, the trigger was pulled. It was off-center, though, and the bullet merely embedded itself in a nearby wall. The gun was knocked from his hands when he hit the ground.

Yu growled. "I've just about had it with you!"

The boy jumped up and tried to attack Yu again, but a swift punch to the abdomen negated it. Again and again, he was beaten back by a quick jab whenever he attempted to do his foe any harm.

Soon enough, the sound of police sirens could be heard, coming closer quickly. "Time's up," Yu snarled at the boy as he sent a final punch flying, smacking the boy in the face. With that, the boy passed out.

The police finally got to the scene, and Dojima climbed out of one of the cars.

"That took you guys way too long," Yu said, trying to fight down his annoyance.

Dojima sighed. "Sorry, but until we got word of a gun being fired, we figured that it was best to handle the other dispute we were working on."

"At which point you raced here like the world was going to end if you didn't get here in the next 20 seconds," Yu guessed the next part.

Dojima chuckled. "That's about right." He turned his attention to the unconscious boy. "So what happened here?"

Yu launched into a grand tale that detailed the fight in spectacular fashion, to the point where you could make a movie out of it. After a while, he started to add in unnecessary, and frankly, incorrect details. It was at this point that Naoto tapped on the shoulder and asked, "Really?" Yu chuckled and went back on track. After he was done, Naoto filled in the blanks from when he was knocked out.

When it was all said and done, at least 20 minutes had passed, and the boy had been dragged away, Dojima had successfully tuned out anything unimportant and figured out who the kid was. "His name is Mitsuo Kubo. Not long ago, he committed murder, and thus was locked up. He broke out a couple days ago, but the search for him was surprisingly lackluster. That or they just wanted to keep his escape unknown by even me." Dojima read through the report that Adachi got him.

"You mean there was an insane murderous kid running around and neither of us knew?!" Naoto fumed. "Our job is put anyone who breaks out of prison back in, but we can't do that if we aren't aware he's out to begin with!"

Yu gently put a hand on her head, saying, "Calm down, dear." She twitched at being called 'dear.'

"You're taking that pretty well," Dojima commented. The two teens glanced at him in confusion. He chuckled. "I expected you to slap him for calling you 'dear.'"

Naoto shrugged. "I try to ignore it. It seems I'm succeeding too."

Yu smiled. "Good thing too. It's been months since I was last slapped, but thinking about it brings the pain right back." He pretended that he was wounded.

"Oh, quit it!" Naoto snarled and slapped him to bring the fake pain to life. She rather enjoyed watching him hop around in now real hurt.

"You didn't have to do that…" Yu whimpered, gazing at her sadly.

"Of course I did," Naoto laughed.

"No, you really didn't," Yu pouted, rubbing his cheek.

Before the shenanigans could continue, Dojima cleared his throat as a sign that he wanted to talk. The bantering ceased.

"So, I'm not exactly in the best mood, but since I've been booted off work for the rest of the day, I say that we get some sushi for dinner," Dojima suggested.

Yu smiled. "Yeah, that's a great idea! If anything, it might help me feel better about the headache that's starting to form."

Dojima nodded. "Alright, it's settled then! You want to join, Naoto?"

"Is that question even necessary at this point?" Yu asked.

Dojima shrugged. "Maybe. You never know."

Yu looked at Naoto. "So are you coming?"

"I think you're right, that question isn't really necessary anymore," Naoto said as an answer.

"I'm just going to take that as a 'fuck yeah'!" Yu horribly imitated her voice, sounding worse than when he tried to sound like Yukiko after they rescued her.

"I do not sound like that," Naoto complained.

Unknown to the two, Dojima had wandered off to get his car, so this sort of craziness continued for at least 5 minutes. Finally, he arrived to find them both still bugging each other. He honked the horn to get their attention after yelling didn't work. They both jumped in fright. "Come on, we still have to get the sushi," he said. Both teens couldn't help but laugh at their obliviousness. They both climbed into the back.

* * *

><p>(Sometime later…) (In Okina…)<p>

Apparently, the only high-end sushi place was down in Okina City, so after informing Nanako over the phone that they would be home a little late, and to not make dinner, they made their way over there.

Over time, Yu started to drift off into the world of sleep. He was only vaguely aware that the same happened to Naoto, and her head came to rest on his shoulder. He was _slightly_ aware, though, and so he chuckled and removed her hat, playing with her ears to keep himself awake a while longer. Her tail unwound for where it had been pretending to be a belt and twitching in her sleep.

Unbeknownst to him, Dojima watched from time to time through the rear-view mirror, finding it incredibly hilarious, and even taking the risk to pull out his phone and take his eyes off the road long enough to set it to record. He kept one hand on the steering wheel while he used the other to hold the phone. After about five minutes, Yu finally succumbed to sleep, and so he put the phone away.

Finally back at the house, Dojima shook Yu awake while Nanako set everything up and brought the sushi inside.

"What?" He muttered sleepily.

"Come on, it's time for dinner," Dojima informed him.

Yu drowsily opened his eyes, wondering if it was worth climbing out of the car for.

"Get your lazy ass out of this car before I force you out," Dojima threatened.

"And how do you plan on doing that?" Yu asked him.

"I'm going to wake Naoto prematurely, and claim that you were the one to wake her. She won't care about your pleas if she's half-asleep and not exactly very happy about it."

Yu narrowed his eyes. "You wouldn't dare."

Dojima mimicked him, with a grin. "Try me."

With an annoyed grumble, Yu started to shift. Naoto groaned unhappily as her makeshift pillow tried to move away. Yu laughed a little at her before carefully moving out of the car and lifting her out.

In the living room, Yu set Naoto down on the couch while they finished preparing for dinner. Said girl awoke after a minute because the light was in her eyes. As they ate dinner, Nanako asked, "What's the occasion? I haven't had sushi in a long time."

Dojima smiled. "I know." He turned on the news, and as luck would have it, the story about what happened earlier came.

"Earlier today, an escaped criminal, a young teen from Yasoinaba, named Mitsuo Kubo, attacked two of the local teenagers. The two were able to defend themselves from his assault, though. As luck would have it, one of the teens was a part of the local police force, and Kubo was shot in the foot before the fight was over. One of the attacked teens allegedly was hit in the head, but it does not seem to have caused any lasting harm. Kubo is currently being brought to another city to see a Judge for his crimes, as Yasoinaba lacks a Judge within the town or the nearby city."

"Well, that was perfect timing," Dojima pointed out.

"What do you mean?" Nanako asked, confused.

"Oh, the teens that were attacked, that was us," Yu explained. "Though I wonder how they know I was hit in the head."

"Probably got it from a witness," Naoto told him.

"You were attacked?" Nanako asked, clearly confused.

"A little unbelievable, huh? On the bright side, we're alive, right?" Yu laughed as he shoved some shrimp in his mouth.

Dojima started to laugh, the reason unknown to the others. He almost choked on his food, in fact.

"What's so funny?" Naoto dared to ask when he calmed down, and didn't choke.

"I just remembered something hilarious. I'll show you after dinner." The two teens exchanged glances, clearly worried, mostly because of the hard-boiled detective almost choked because he was laughing.

After dinner was done, and Nanako and Yu were finishing up washing the dishes, Dojima retrieved his laptop. They all sat down to watch curiously as he did various things, but finally, the two teens realized that he was showing a recording that he took on his phone on the laptop.

He turned to them. "Ready?" Nanako nodded instantly, while Yu was a little more careful thinking about what it could be. Not sure what it could be, he shrugged. Dojima took that as the green light, and played it.

It was a five minute long recording of what happened in the back seat of his car when Naoto and Yu were both half asleep. Nanako watched, finding it just as amusing as her father, while the poor young adults just felt a little embarrassed. Rie, who had been strangely quiet up until now, was laughing her ass off, even though it wasn't that funny.

"How did you ever get that? You were driving," Naoto pointed out, seemingly torn between wanting to watch it, and also not.

"It was just too precious, so I took the time to pull out my phone and record it," Dojima answered, laughing at some of the more amusing stuff that he had missed.

After about 3 minutes, Yu stood, saying, "I'm leaving now, you want to come?"

Naoto stood. "Gladly."

Dojima watched them go upstairs, chuckling all the while.

* * *

><p>Upstairs, Yu plopped down on his couch. "Well, that's slightly embarrassing."<p>

Naoto sat beside him. "No shit. Why were you doing that to begin with?"

"I was half-asleep, but I didn't want to fall asleep, so I started playing with your ears to keep myself awake. Is that so wrong?"

"Well, it's a little creepy to find out through your uncle getting it on video, and then showing it to your cousin and her ghost friend."

"So you're saying you'd be perfectly fine if my uncle hadn't gotten it on video and showed Nanako and Rie?"

"I never said that," Naoto pointed out.

"That's true, but you hinted at it. You never said an outright 'no,'" Yu countered. He ran his finger over her ear, and her tail flicked, whether it was from annoyance, or enjoyment, he couldn't tell because her face remained expressionless. "Do you actually enjoy this?"

"Yes, and no," she answered. "I'm surely part cat now, because half of me loves it, but the other half is screaming, 'what are you doing?!'"

Yu laughed as he continued the action. Poor Naoto seemed torn between swatting his hand away in annoyance and curling up on the couch to just soak up the love. Eventually, he brushed a sweet spot, and that only made it worse. "Goddamn it, Yu, stop it," she groaned, attempting to sound annoyed.

"What, does it feel good there?" Yu asked, stroking it again. With that, the cat side finally won out, and she stopped resisting. Yu laughed as he kept running his fingers over the spot.

After about five minutes, Naoto had made herself comfortable on the couch, curled up slightly, half-asleep. "You still awake there?" Yu whispered.

"Of course I am," she opened her eyes and looked up at him.

Yu laughed. "That look on your face is hilarious."

She sat up. "What look?"

"You look like you're half-asleep, which you are, as well as hyped up on pain-killers."

"Is that so?" Yu nodded. "Well, I kind of feel like it. Also, I don't want to know why you know what that looks like."

Yu snorted in laughter. "Are you kidding me? All I did was stroke your ears. That's not possible."

"Keep telling yourself that," she told him.

"OK, say it is possible for you to enter a drugged-like state through simply stroking a specific spot on your ears. Most people say some pretty non-sensical things in such a condition, and I have yet to hear anything crazy spew from your mouth," Yu said, denying the idea.

"Maybe the logical part of me is still there," she replied. "But what do you expect me to say or do?"

"OK, something I'm sure you would never admit normally…" he thought for a second before smirking evilly. "Who do you like?"

Naoto giggled, which actually scared Yu, because she was not the type to giggle, she was more of a normal laugh or chuckle sort of person. "Do you really want to know?"

"After you giggled, I'm not so sure," Yu admitted.

She frowned. "It's a yes or no question, Narukami."

Yu froze for a second, before decided that he was afraid that he would regret it later, but figured he might as well figure out whom it was. Taking a deep breath, he said, "Alright then, though I fear I'll regret it later."

"You can't regret it that much, you're asking for it, right?" Yu hesitantly nodded. "It's… you."

Yu didn't do anything for a second as he processed the information he had heard. Finally, he asked, "Can you repeat that? I think I heard that wrong."

"Are you kidding me? It was two simple words, you couldn't have misheard it."

"I think a better question there is, 'are you kidding ME?'" With a slightly annoyed look on her face, she shook her head. "I'm going to have to ask you about this in the morning. For now, I think you're crazy." He shoved her out of his room. "Good night." He shut the door.

Midway through changing into more comfortable clothes, there was a knock on the door. "What?" He asked irritably.

"You shoved her out of your room," Dojima stated simply through the door.

"Yes, I did," Yu replied just as simply.

"Why?" Dojima dared to ask.

"Because I stroked a specific spot on her ears, and she started to freak me out because she was in an almost drugged-like state."

"Good for you," Dojima said indifferently, apparently not really caring. "However, she's your friend, so because the couch has been filled with stuff from work, most of which is so heavy that I'd kill myself without a second person being there, she's sleeping in your room." Dojima opened the door, not caring that Yu was midway through taking off his shirt, and shoved Naoto through.

"Hang on!" Yu called out. "That junk wasn't there earlier, what gives?"

"Adachi just dropped it off. I know, it's bothersome, but suck it up." He left, closing the door to his room. Yu's eye twitched in annoyance as he glared at the closed door.

"Karma!" Naoto sang happily. "I told you to stop, but you didn't, and now look at what you get!"

Yu sighed. This was going to take a while, huh?

* * *

><p>(14th) (Sunday)<p>

How Yu woke that morning in the actual _morning_ was unknown. He had almost attempted to strangle his uncle multiple times before he could get to sleep, for various reasons. In the end, the only way to get Naoto to shut up and go to sleep was to agree to sleep beside her.

Naoto shifted next to him as he opened his eyes. Slowly, she awoke, and wasn't very happy as well as quite confused. "What the hell?" She asked.

"Good morning!" Yu greeted cheerfully. "I hope you aren't going to act crazy anymore."

"Excuse me?!" She yelled in a slight panic.

"I'll just take that as a no…" Yu said. "I'm assuming you don't remember a lot of last night?"

"No…" she muttered. "I'm afraid to ask, but what happened?"

"Well, I stroked your ears," he answered simply.

"That doesn't answer anything," Naoto growled in annoyance.

"Well, apparently," he gently stroked the spot once, earning a small shiver from her. "That particular spot has interesting effects after awhile."

"Interesting as in…?"

"Well, for one, you giggled, which is, admittedly, a little frightening," Yu said.

"OK, that's a little strange… What else?"

"Well, because I noticed that something odd was up, I decided to ask you a question that I knew you wouldn't answer normally. And you did answer it, though I'm a little skeptical about your answer," Yu laughed nervously.

Taking a deep breath, Naoto asked, "And what, dare I ask, is that question?"

"Who do you like?" He answered, watching as his poor friend immediately turned a bright red.

"And I answered that?!" She yelled.

Yu laughed. "Yep." The bright red drained for a minute in fright, before coming back full force.

"And what was my answer?" She asked in a low voice, looking at the ceiling to avoid looking at him.

"Me," Yu answered casually, watching the red intensify. "I'm guessing you weren't lying then, were you?"

"Apparently not," she muttered meekly.

"So what brought this development about?" Yu asked.

"I'm… going to blame it on Stockholm Syndrome," she replied.

Yu frowned. "You're saying that like I've taken you hostage."

"You might as well have. Don't you remember that lovely conversation with my Shadow?"

"Valid point," Yu said, vaguely remembering the Shadow's complaints. "I don't see it as a hostage situation though; otherwise my uncle would have killed me."

"Doesn't matter, I still consider it as such."

"I get the feeling that you're moving away from the point here," Yu said.

"Do you blame me?" Naoto asked.

"Not particularly," Yu replied.

"Good. With that out of the way, I think I'll leave." Naoto started to stand, but Yu grabbed her hand, preventing her from standing further. She looked extremely unhappy with this action.

"The person you like finds out, and you do nothing about it?"

"Forget it, Yu," she demanded, pulling her hand away.

Yu got up and swiftly blocked the door. "What're you so afraid of?"

"What makes you think I'm afraid of something?!" She snapped, irritated at his inability to leave her alone.

"Generally, when you make a point to avoid something, you're afraid of it," Yu answered. "So what is it? Rejection? The quickly approaching spring, in which I will have to leave Inaba?"

Naoto looked at the window, probably figuring if it was worth it to jump out. Finally, she answered, "Yes."

"'Yes' as in… the first, or the second?"

"Both of them, dammit!" She yelled.

"Alright, calm down…" Yu said soothingly, wrapping her in a hug, to which she tensed up. "The spring is still a long ways off." He gently rubbed her ears, causing her to unwillingly release the tension.

"Does it matter how far away it is?! It's still going to happen!"

Yu pulled out of the hug, looking her straight in the eyes. "Then we'll just have to make the most of it, huh?" With that, he planted a light kiss on her cheek, leaving her stunned.

"W-what?" She asked.

"'What' what? Are you really that surprised?" Yu smiled. "Let's just agree to blame all of this on Stockholm Syndrome, and leave it at that."

"Y-yeah, Stockholm Syndrome," Naoto nodded slowly.

* * *

><p>(Later…)<p>

Yu was accompanying Naoto home while they both munched on eggos. After a bit, she asked, "What are you planning on doing anyway? I feel like your forcing me away."

"It's not that. I just want to go give Hisano her letters before I forget for a month," he muttered, annoyed at himself that he probably would forget for a while.

"That seems like you," Naoto laughed at him.

"Hey, are you calling me forgetful?"

"Yes, I am," Naoto said through the food in her mouth.

"Hey, don't speak with your mouth full," Yu scolded, also with his mouth full, completely missing the irony.

"Hypocrite," she muttered in reply.

"Excuse me?"

"You're a hypocrite," she repeated. "You told me not to talk with food in my mouth, and as you said that, your mouth was full."

"And you love me anyway," he said with a sweet smile.

"You're changing the topic here," she accused.

"Not really," he replied. "I'm just saying that you love me, despite my flaws."

"There are enough of them, though, that it makes me wonder why I do so much as hang around you."

"It's because I'm amazing," Yu said with pride.

Naoto rolled her eyes. "Keep telling yourself that."

"Fine then, you hang out with me because of my personality."

"Yeah, but you have enough of them that would put a person with Multiple Personality Disorder to shame. Strange thing is that they all seem fully matured too, and you don't seem to have difficulty remembering things when you change from your main personality."

"E-excuse me, what does that mean?" Yu asked her, confused.

"A person with MPD can have up to 100 separate personalities, all different from the host personality. More than likely, they're not fully matured, and the host personality has a sort of micro-amnesia from where another character takes over," she explained in a tone that reminded him of a robot, finishing off her eggo.

"Are you saying I have 100 different people in me?"

"No, you don't have THAT many in you."

"That's freaky though."

"Indeed it is."

With that, they both fell silent…

* * *

><p>A couple minutes later, Yu had made sure Naoto had returned home safely. Apparently poor Meinu had been waiting by the door all night awaiting her return. They agreed to meet up the next day, or at least after Yu had taken the letters down to Hisano, if that doesn't take too long.<p>

When he got to the river, he held up the box of letters, showing them to her. She seemed incredibly surprised, as to be expected. "The letters my husband sent to me? How did you get them?"

"Daidara is apparently an avid collector of other people's old stuff," Yu explained.

"Oh, he must have snatched them up when he was collecting the contents of the storehouse. So that's where I put them. Thank you, Yu-chan, it makes me so happy to see these again." She smiled, happy. Then, her expression turned grim. "But I'm going to burn them."

"Wait, what?!" Yu cried out, startled at her choice. She then left to get some matches, leaving Yu standing there, stunned. Knowing that there would be no more use for them later, he decided to open them up and read them.

"The wooden wall frame / I was once shorter than it / I have outgrown it / in the time that we / have been kept apart," one of the cards read. Another read, "I want to see you so much. How much sky, earth and water do my words have to run through, on and over to reach you, my dear Hisa-san? How I wish I was this postcard."

Yu then became aware that Hisano was watching him. "Isn't that just so sad? He had no idea he was being deceived." Yu didn't say anything, absolutely confused. "I'm sure he never imagined the Hisa-san he loved would someday wish to see him dead."

"And what does that mean?" Yu asked.

Hisano seated herself down, and Yu did the same a second later. "He was a kind, honest, and loyal man. But he fell ill and became bedridden. I had to work to support our family. He would always apologize for failing as a husband. When he did, he would smile so sadly. His illness worsened over time, and he must have become frightened. He took the frustration and fear out on me. The man who had been so kind… But it didn't bother me at all. After all, when we were wed, we agreed to take care of each other, 'in sickness and in health.'"

She shook her head. "But he forgot. He forgot all about his wife. I couldn't bring myself to love him, or forgive him, how he looked at me with such confusion. And when I cried, he wiped away the tears, just like the man I loved, the man he no longer was. He was a stranger living in my husband's body. So, at night, when he slept, I tried to kill him." Yu wore an expression that had ALARMED written all over it as he processed the information.

"But I couldn't. While I was standing over him, he opened his eyes, and smiled up at me. That same smile that he showed me while I was a girl. Then, in the same voice he used to tell me he loved me, he asked: 'Who are you, ma'am?' That was 3 years ago. After that, every day he would forget who I was. Every day, he would wake up and ask me, 'Who are you?' And in reply, I would answer, 'Who am I today?' I was a total stranger to him, until the very end. A stranger cared for him as he passed away. That was his punishment for forgetting me."

Yu took a second, before saying, "That… must have been rough."

Hisano shrugged. "Actually, I was relieved. Before anything else, I felt relief. That it was finally over, for the both of us. It was then that I realized that I had wanted him to die. And because I wished it, he died and went to the gods. I am Death itself. Please, I don't care what you do with the letters, but I don't want to see them anymore."

Seeing that she wasn't going to take the letters back, Yu decided to return them to Daidara. After he was done with that little task, Daidara then shoved the letters Hisano sent to her husband into his hands and threw him out of the store, which really started to unnerve the teenager as to why an old metalsmith collected people's mostly unwanted letters. As well as why he got the letters as though they carried the plague.

* * *

><p>Looking at his phone, Yu was surprised to find that it was exactly 6 o'clock as he entered the Dojima residence. "I didn't spend that much time out, did I?" He asked himself.<p>

"You did sleep until at least 9," Nanako reminded him.

"That still doesn't explain it," Yu told her before heading up to his room to put down the old woman's letters in a safe place. As he walked downstairs, he got a text. It was from Chie, warning him to watch out, because Yosuke was short on staff this week, and he might rope everyone else into helping. For now, he decided to ignore it until Yosuke started to beg him for help.

* * *

><p><strong>Ok, I finished that, and fit Mitsuo into the story, about as much of a raving lunatic as he was in the game, and best of all, he's out of Inaba, so I don't have to worry about him being thrown into the TV. Now I just have to throw Namitame in there, and we're all good.<strong>

**Tell me of errors, please! The only person, that I remember, anyway, who has bothered to at all, I thank.**


	43. The 'Best' First Date Ever!

**OK, finally done with this! I might stop working on this for a while to finish some of my other stories though, so that's just a heads up. **

**Also, I made a thing! Specifically, a picture. Which I'm going to make this story's main picture. It's a little crappy, but I think it works for a first attempt. By the way, I wish to try and implement Whitewind into the story more. Around Nanako's dungeon, I plan of going much more in depth with the rest of the spirit animal's fates.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 43<p>

(15th) (Monday)

As Yu was getting ready to take on the day, he got a call. He answered with a lazy, "Eh?"

Yosuke didn't stop to question why he didn't even bother to form a real word. He jumped right to the point. "Dude, we're short on staff this week. Think you can help out 'til Friday?"

"I'll have you know I have a life, Beta," Yu told him.

"Please?" Yosuke begged. He stopped for a second, and then he smirked. Yu could tell he smirked because he heard the accompanying small evil laugh. "I've got Naoto-kun coming to help."

Yu was silent for a second. "Really? That's the way you plan to get me to come and help your sorry ass?"

"Well, I was asking her to help, and she let it slip that you planned to do something with her today. Since when were you two dating?"

"Since yesterday," Yu replied. "I can't believe that she agreed to help you though."

"Well, once I found out about you two, I told her that you would be coming," Yosuke admitted.

"You sly dog," Yu muttered.

"Yeah, I'm evil," Yosuke laughed. "But come on, I need help here! I'll make sure you guys'll be in the same section, and you can have your breaks at the same time! Come on; help out your Beta, please!"

Yu couldn't help but laugh at his Beta's pleas. "Fine, but you'd better make sure I get paid for this." He could actually hear Yosuke nod his head.

"Of course, I'm not going to make you work all week with nothing to gain from it!" Yosuke yelled, seemingly offended at his Alpha for not just assuming that he was going to get paid. "In fact, you'll get extra, alright?! Great, I have to get ready, see you later!" With that, he hung up.

* * *

><p>(At Junes)<p>

After having to stand out in the hot sun for a good couple hours, Yu's break finally came. Tired, he plopped down in the shade and just sat there for a minute.

"You already look like you're about to die," Naoto laughed as she took a seat beside him.

"That's about right," Yu told her. "And think, we have to do this for another 4 and half days. Joy," he sighed.

"Yes, well, it's your fault for agreeing to help Yosuke-senpai out."

"Well, actually it's your fault," Yu countered. "You let it slip that we were going to do something today, and he used that. He told me that you were going to be there, and that he told you that I was going to be there before he even texted me 'good morning!'"

"You mean he tricked me?" She asked in a sweet voice that seemed to be an attempt at masking her annoyance.

"Yes, he did, and then used that to get me to help him."

"I am so going to kill him," she threatened.

Yu put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't bother. Karma is going to get him back, sooner or later. Plus, I don't think you want to have to deal with the fact that you murdered someone."

Naoto growled in annoyance, but refrained from acting upon her threat. Yosuke called out to them that their break was over, and, because it was so short that it was almost pointless to have had it to begin with, she jumped out of her seat, seemingly intent on strangling him. Yu had to wrap his arms around her waist and plant his feet firmly on the ground, all the while praying he didn't kill himself, in order to stop her.

"Let me go, I'm going to murder that stupid mutt!"

"I'm sorry; I can't let you do that!" Yu yelled.

Yosuke, who, for some reason, wasn't looking at them, heard them and called out to them, "Are you guys already bickering like an old married couple?"

"NO!" They both yelled in perfect unison.

Yosuke laughed. "Right…"

* * *

><p>(Skip to Friday to 19th)<p>

After 5 days, even Teddie, who had been full of energy up until now, looked like he wished he was dead. Or possibly still living in the TV. In any case, he was tired, and it seemed that the pain that appeared on the suit's face was starting to scare the kids.

"Poor Teddie," Yu muttered. "He has to stand there in front of the griddle even though no one is willing to approach him so long as he has that look on his face."

"He probably deserves it, " Naoto reminded him. "Though I'm surprised he hasn't called it quits yet, and left on an early break."

"I'm thinking of forcing him away by now," Yosuke said as he watched Teddie try to get some nearby costumers to come buy some food, to no avail. In fact, they ran away as fast as possible without looking too desperate to get away from the bear costume.

"Hey guys!" Rise called out to them.

"Rise, buy something from Teddie so he'll look less miserable," Yosuke demanded.

"Um… sure, I guess?" Confused, Rise walked over to talk to Teddie. As she had hung out with the bear enough, and as such was used to the wide variety of emotions the suit could and would exhibit, she didn't see the issue when he started to complain that everyone was running away from him today. She figured it was because he was only serving hot food on a blistering hot day.

With Teddie feeling a bit better with his 'queen' around, Yu decided to move on with his work.

After a bit, Naoto ran up to him. "Hey, Yosuke says that the Summer Festival is tomorrow, so we're going to meet up in front of the shrine tomorrow night."

"OK, thanks," Yu said.

* * *

><p>(At night)<p>

Yu decided to do something that he hadn't been doing recently. Talk to his wolf buddy. In all reality, he was just trying to escape Rie, who, for some reason, was in a particular, 'I wish to bug the shit out of you' mood.

As he attempted to meditate, said ghost girl wouldn't leave him alone, prompting him to yell, "When are you going to leave!?"

"Never," she giggled. "I'm a ghost. I'm immortal, and shall haunt you forever."

"Yes, you love to bug the shit out of me. Please exit my life, and never return."

"Well, aren't you prickly today?"

"I just wasted a week of my precious summer helping my Beta while I could have been doing so many more important things. And I'm trying to do something, but you won't shut up! Of course I'm 'prickly'!"

"Fine, I guess I'll go hang out with Nanako then."

"Please do!"

Rie let out an annoyed huff and dropped through floor. Yu sighed. "Didn't she say she would be gone by the end on the year?"

With that out of the way, Yu returned to attempting to contact the spirit inside him. After a minute, he was once again in the peaceful mindscape.

"I thought you'd forgotten about me," Whitewind said.

"Yes, well, it's difficult to when I possess magical powers, ears and a tail."

"Why haven't you talked to me more then?"

Yu was silent for a second. "OK, I forgot." Whitewind laughed at him. "Shut up!"

Whitewind let out a final chuckle, before putting on a straight face. "OK, fine, why are you here?"

"Well, I'm bored, and also, I wish to know more about you and the powers that you give me and my friends."

Whitewind nodded and sat down, an indication it was going to take a while, so Yu did the same.

"Ok, so I'll tell you the story of my land and friends later. I'll start with the powers." Whitewind took a deep breath before continuing. "So there are five types of spirit animals. There are the ones that are the most common of them all, that have no special abilities. Those would be like your 'Beta', Yosuke. Then there are the slightly more rare animals, which possess super strength. Those are your types like Chie and Kanji. The rarest of them all are the sensory types, like Rise. Besides sensory, there is one other that matches it in rarity. That is speed. It's the most difficult to get a grip on, and can be uncontrollable without proper training, but by far the most powerful. I only know one spirit that has this, which has lead me to believe she's residing in your mate."

"Why do you call her my 'mate'?" Yu interjected.

"Because that's the terminology I'm most familiar with," he answered. "Anyway, there is only one more type, which is the one I am. This is that of the leader. The leader has all the abilities, but he has to learn how to activate them. Otherwise, he is just the type he's born as."

"Born as? So you mean that you only gain all the powers upon becoming leader? And you're the leader?"

"Correct on both accounts," Whitewind confirmed. "I was born as the most common type, which actually made everyone skeptical that I could handle being leader. As a kid, I would proclaim that I would take the throne from my father, but I was born as what is generally called a 'regular,' from two special parents. My father had his speed, and my mother had sensory. I also hated the idea that I had no choice in who was my mate. Taking any but another wolf spirit was forbidden after my great-grandfather proclaimed it." He sighed. "I did become leader, through hard work and determination, and with that I took the female I liked as my mate, rather than another wolf. A cat spirit, actually. But then evil beings came and killed us all. And thus I'm stuck with you."

Yu tried to process all the information. "Cat spirit? Don't wolves and cats not get along?"

"They can. All animals can get along with they want," Whitewind said, seemingly offended.

"OK then… Tomorrow night, you are so telling me the story about the evil beings. For now, I'm tired. Good night…"

* * *

><p>(20th) (Saturday)<p>

At the festival, all the guys were waiting for the girls to arrive. "It feels rather empty this year," Yosuke pointed out.

"It's probably better for it to be empty. I don't want to feel like I'm back in the city," Yu said.

"It's a little unnerving, though," Yosuke said.

"Well, I'm glad. And also very hungry. I think I'll go eat something." With that, Yu turned around and left to devour something. With nothing better to do, the other males followed him.

* * *

><p>Some 20 minutes later, the girls had yet to arrive. "Where are they?" Yosuke complained.<p>

"I think they were going over to Yukiko-senpai's house first, right?" Kanji asked.

"I think so. Though whatever they're doing, it's taking forever," Yu sighed.

At that moment, the girls happened to arrive, all dressed in beautiful yukata. Yu took notice of was the HUGE bag of cotton candy Nanako held, as well as the fact that all of their ears were exposed. "Sorry we're late!" Chie called out.

"Putting these things on takes more time than we thought," Yukiko told them.

"Um, your ears…" Yu hissed.

"It's a festival. Everyone has been lead to believe they're fake," Naoto explained. "Now then, stop acting as though they're real," she hinted.

Yu nodded. "Ah, OK, in that case…" he made sure no one was looking, and then allowed his ears to pop into existence. "That's better. You know, you guys look weird with your ears out and wearing yukata."

"We look pretty though, right? It's worth waiting for, isn't it?" Rise asked.

Yu took another bite of the snack he held. "Eh," he replied after he swallowed.

"EH?!" Rise yelled. "What do you mean 'eh'?!"

"Eh," Yu repeated with a shrug.

While Rise was busy fuming, everyone else was laughing at her. "Hey," Dojima greeted, wondering why the teens were laughing. After a second of thinking, he said, "You know, I don't want to know. Thanks for watching Nanako for me. I'll watch her from here on out. You kids go have fun."

"Because that's _so_ difficult to achieve with this weirdo group," Yu told him, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Yes, you're crazy. Now go away." Dojima took Nanako's hand, and led her away.

"Alright, onwards!" Yu exclaimed.

"I vote we all split up into groups!" Teddie yelled.

"OK, but I get to go with him!" Rise yelled as she latched onto Yu.

"Seriously, what's your obsession with him?" Everyone asked at the same time while he pushed her away with a blank look on his face.

After a minute, Rise hadn't replied, so Yu decided to speak. "I hope you realize I already have someone I'm going with."

"WHAT?! WHO?!" Rise yelled, just about blasting out his eardrums.

Everyone watched for a minute as he stumbled around in pain for a minute, mentally noting to never cheat on her, unless they have a death wish.

Seeing that Yu wasn't going to recover anytime soon, or at least have the courage to tell her should he manage it, Naoto decided to tell her. "That would be me."

"YOU?!" Rise yelled at the same pitch as before. Luckily, everyone was prepared this time, and plugged their ears.

"Yes, me. Now, do us all a favor, and stop screaming. My ears can't take much more of this."

"Rise, just give up," Yu muttered. "Teddie's waiting for you."

"But I don't want him!" Rise yelled, breaking Teddie's heart, though no one noticed as he slumped to the ground.

"Again, what's your obsession with me?" Yu asked. "Anyway, I have a girlfriend now, and I want our first date to not end in total disaster."

With a huff, Rise said, "Fine. Let's go, Teddie." When he didn't respond, everyone turned to him in confusion.

"No, Rise," he said coldly, noticeably leaving out the 'queen' that he generally added to her name. "You don't want me, right?"

"I think you broke him," Chie commented.

"Good job," Yu said sarcastically, lightly patting her on the back. "Well, I don't particularly wish to see how this turns out, so I'm just going to go." Hastily, everyone else followed his lead.

"Is it really smart to leave those two?" Naoto asked.

"Ah, it won't kill anyone," Yu replied.

"Still…"

"I agree with Yu-kun," Chie said. "I'm surprised this hasn't happened earlier."

"Wonder what they're doing though," Yukiko said.

"Wanna spy on them?" Yosuke asked jokingly. To his surprise, the group agreed to it. "I meant that as a joke."

"We can see that, but we're still doing it," Chie informed him.

With that, they ran back to the scene…

* * *

><p>"This is one hell of a way to spend our first date," Naoto muttered as they hid behind a stand.<p>

"I know, right?" Yu laughed.

"Shut it, I can't hear them!" Chie hissed.

"Maybe you should use your other ears to hear. They are better for eavesdropping," Yosuke told her.

"I'm aware of that, but there is way too much background noise!"

"Everyone, quiet!" Yu snarled. The group obeyed, and listened to the conversation.

* * *

><p>(With Rise and Teddie… Directly after the rest of the group left…)<p>

"Teddie, come on," Rise muttered to the bear.

"Why do you care all of a sudden?" He asked.

"Why have you lost all enthusiasm all of a sudden?" She retorted.

"Because I realized that you don't care," he replied.

"To be fair, I never really cared about you in a romantic way, you just never saw it."

"Thanks…" Teddie muttered.

"Come on, what do I have to do to get you to be peppy again?"

Teddie shrugged. "I don't know."

Rise thought for a minute. Finally, she came up with an idea. "I know! I'll be your 'queen' the whole time that the festival is going on!"

Teddie shrugged apathetically. "Eh," was all the said.

"Teddie, please? At least try to _look_ cheery?" Teddie allowed a smile to form on his face, though it was a little forced. "There you go! Now, off we go!" Teddie kept the smile on his face, but rolled his eyes as she dragged him away.

* * *

><p>(Back with the group…)<p>

"Wanna continue following them?" Yosuke asked, again, jokingly.

"Yep," Yu replied, starting to move.

"Hey, that was, once again, a joke!" Yosuke yelled as he followed.

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I want to see how this turns out," Yu told him.

"I thought you said you didn't want to see the ending of this?" Naoto pointed out.

"That's true. But this is getting juicy."

"Juicy…?" Kanji asked. "The hell does that mean?"

"It means that this is getting quite interesting," Yukiko told him slowly, as though he might not understand otherwise.

"Right, I knew that," Kanji muttered.

"Keep telling yourself that," Yosuke laughed.

"Shut up!" Kanji yelled.

"Keep it down!" Yu hissed as he stopped behind a new hiding spot.

* * *

><p>(Back with Rise and Teddie…)<p>

Thanks to Rise's enthusiasm, Teddie's forced smile was slowly becoming more natural. And for once, the former idol looked like she was enjoying his company. They stopped momentarily to get some food before continuing on their way.

Teddie pointed at a stand. "Oh, fish!"

Rise glanced at what he was so excited about. "Oh, that game. I have bad memories with fish. I was never able to take care of them because I never had the time, so they always died while I was out."

"I thought you had a whole staff that were willing to be at your beck and call. Why didn't you just get one of them to feed the fish?" Teddie asked, confused.

"Work back at my house is my work, not theirs. And my mother wanted me to be the one to take care of them, so she wasn't willing to. Plus, she would forget," Rise sighed.

"But the queen and her fish should have the best care!" Teddie exclaimed.

"Wait, what?" Rise asked. "Did you call me your queen? I thought you were going to stop that?"

"…Oops," Teddie muttered.

"Admit it, you still like me!" Rise said.

"Yep," he responded.

"Then what was with the hate act?"

"Well, I was a little curious to see how you would react."

"You did this as an experiment?"

"Well, you did crush me a little earlier. Is it too late to take you up on your offer from earlier?"

"The one about being your queen for the whole festival?" Teddie nodded. Rise sighed in a joking manner and rolled her eyes, "Fine."

"Yay!" Teddie exclaimed, grabbing her hand and started to drag her away.

Before she was out of sight of the rest of the group, she turned around and mouthed, 'I know you've been watching us.'

Behind the stand, everyone was slightly terrified. "She was aware of us?" Yukiko asked.

"She truly is a sensory type," Yu muttered.

"I think we should just split up now, and stop following them. Else Rise might sic Teddie on us," Chie said.

"Good point," Yu muttered. "Come on Naoto." The two left, leaving the other four to figure out what to do.

* * *

><p>(Some hour or so later…)<p>

After having stuffed themselves with junk food, Yu returned Naoto to her apartment. Afterwards, he returned home. There, he checked his phone, finding he had a message. It read, 'Why were you following us? Also, Teddie's good. Somehow, I've been roped into having another date with him.'

Yu replied with, 'I followed because I could. Also, good job. It's like you're actually dating!'

After a minute, Rise replied with, 'You know, I think we may be now.'

Yu laughed. 'You mean you don't know?'

'Nope. He's smooth when he wants to be.'

Yu chuckled to himself, not bothering to respond. He looked at the clock, and found that it was 10. "Shit, when'd that happen? Ah, sorry Whitewind, tomorrow, I guess." And with that, he went to sleep.

* * *

><p>(21st) (Sunday)<p>

Today, because the festival was only going to open up at about 6 and with nothing better to do, Yu decided to hear Whitewind's story.

In the mindscape, Yu sat down beside the wolf-spirit, who appeared to be meditating. "I thought you said that you were going to come by yesterday," he muttered.

"Sorry, it was 10 by the time I got home," Yu apologized.

"So? Why didn't you come in the morning, like now?" Whitewind questioned.

"Because I was sleeping, duh," Yu answered, as though the answer was obvious.

"Right, anyway, are you ready?"

"Sure. How long is this going to take?

Whitewind shrugged. "Hour, maybe more."

"Better get started then."

"Alright, here we go!"

_**(Dramatic voice) To Be Continued!**_

* * *

><p><strong>I'm planning on making the next part as a sort of chapter 0 sort of thing, as in, it won't have Yu interject midway through the story or something.<strong>


	44. Backstory Time!

** This whole chapter is one big flashback for Whitewind. It took forever to come up with a good name for his mate, I tell you!**

** I promise that I won't make another chapter dedicated to the OCs of this story, because I know that not everyone cares about OCs, and that's why they don't appear much. That, and I forget they exist a lot because I want to focus on the main characters, believe it or not.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 44<p>

It was a peaceful day for the Spirit Animals. Whitewind and his mate, Iceleaf, were resting quietly up against a lone tree. The two lazily watched the rest of the Spirit Animals go about their day.

"Not to jinx the peacefulness," Iceleaf yawned. "But nothing interesting has happened in forever. Food is all too easy to catch, and everyone is bored because nothing's happening!" She fidgeted.

"What, don't you like getting to spend quality time with your mate?" Whitewind asked with a jokingly heartbroken look on his face.

"Well, yeah," Iceleaf replied. "But don't you want something interesting to happen? Not like, 'oh shit, the world's about to end' sort of exiting, but something different."

"Yes, that would be nice, but once that happens, we won't get to rest, will we?" Whitewind pointed out. He got up, brushing dust off his fur. "Alright, you want something interesting to happen? I can't give you 'oh shit, the world's about to end' sort of exiting, but I can give you something."

"Oh, what!?" Iceleaf said, perking up, her ears and tail reflecting her current excitement. She jumped up.

"Yeah, go help out ol' deadbeat," Whitewind replied, earning a slap across the cheek from his mate while he chuckled.

"I don't want anything to do with him!" Iceleaf yelled.

Ol' deadbeat was the admittedly rude nickname of an odd old slug Spirit, though he totally earned it. Before his birth, it was thought impossible to have a creature like that be a part of a Spirit. Somehow, he managed have anti-powers, being the weakest, slowest, most pathetic Spirit ever. Not to mention he was annoying, sarcastic, and downright rude. He never tried to do anything even remotely friendly. For that, no one liked him.

"Ok, but there's nothing else for you to do," Whitewind told her.

Seemingly annoyed, Iceleaf poked him in the stomach. "You're annoying."

"Yes indeed," Whitewind replied.

"Ok, so you aren't going to give me something to do," Iceleaf said, to which her mate nodded before sitting back down. "I guess I'll just have to entertain myself."

She poked him in the neck, a sensitive spot.

"What are you doing?" Whitewind asked, tilting his neck to trap her finger between his shoulder and chin.

"Entertaining myself," she replied, using her other hand to tickle his bare feet.

"Stop it," he complained. She didn't. "Alright, you want to be entertained like a damn child, I'll amuse you!"

He jumped up, giving chase as she ran away upon realizing she had gone too far.

To the Spirit Animals that were trying to mind their own business as their leader acted like a child, there were two blurs running around the clearing they called home at breakneck speeds. No one except the kids paid it any mind, though, because at this peaceful time, it didn't really matter, and the likely chance of them running into anyone was pretty low, not after what happened the first time. They needed the exercise anyway.

Whitewind caught up to her, running in front, smirking, about to tackle her to the ground. Next thing he knew, however, he was tripping over a rock and falling to the ground. Iceleaf, in turn, tripped over him and just so happened to roll down the nearby hill. Whitewind got up and watched as she rolled, listening to her childish giggles. "I swear I'll never understand her…" he muttered, walking down the hill.

Having successfully gotten most of her restless energy out, Iceleaf got up and almost fell over again because she was still disoriented from rolling down the slope. She heard Whitewind laughing at her stumbling. "Shut up!" She whined.

"Nah, that's no fun," Whitewind replied, continuing to chuckle.

Iceleaf was about to yell at him some more, when a wet drop of water dripped onto her nose. Looking up at the sky, she found that while they were playing, rain clouds had covered the sky. "Oh, that's just unfair!" She huffed. "It just finished raining last night, after having rained the whole week."

"Oh, come on, what's so bad about rain?" Whitewind asked. "It keeps the plants healthy, which keeps the prey healthy, which keeps us healthy. What's not to like?"

"I'm a cat," she complained, pointing to her ears. "It's a well known fact that cats don't like rain."

"No, it's a stereotype," Whitewind replied.

"Name one cat that likes rain, and then I'll believe you." When her mate didn't reply, she smirked, saying, "Like I said."

"You don't seem to mind," Whitewind pointed out.

"That's because our conversation was keeping me busy. But now that you point it out, I'm suddenly fucking freezing." She started to walk up the hill, her mate following close behind.

Back at the top, the two found that most of the Spirits didn't care about the rain, other than a couple grumbling about it returning so soon, but didn't let it impede upon their duties. Seeing this, Whitewind sent his mate off hunting while he did leader-y things. Iceleaf grumbled unhappily before running over to the forest, hiding underneath the cover of the trees.

Heading along the path she generally went hunting down, she quickly spotted a rabbit. About to run forward and snatch it, Iceleaf jumped five feet in the air when thunder sounded. From her rather humorous spot clinging to a branch, she yelled, "Dammit!" As that rabbit disappeared from view.

Dropping down, she muttered, "Fucking rain, soaking me, and thunder scaring the shit out of me."

"Having issues?" A voice asked behind her.

Recognizing the Spirit by his voice alone, she didn't bother facing him as she said, "Yes, Lego. You know I hate thunder and rain."

"I'm well aware of that fact," Lego chuckled.

"So, why are you out here? Surely Whitewind wouldn't send his precious mutt out of do something as petty as hunting."

"Nah," he replied, shaking his head. "Alpha sent me to check out a strange scent one of the foxes, Scarlet, I think, found. It started to rain, though, and I lost the trail."

Iceleaf nodded. "Alright. I'm assuming you're going to go sleep now?" Lego nodded. "Lazyass," she muttered.

"Yes I am, and I'm proud of it!" He replied.

Iceleaf rolled her eyes. "Alright then. Tell Hashberry 'hello' for me, OK?"

"Why do you say that like she's my mate?" Lego sighed.

"Truthfully, I'm surprised she isn't yet, with the amount of time you spend with her," Iceleaf replied.

"Fine, fine," Lego groaned before taking his leave.

* * *

><p>Iceleaf returned from hunting soaked, and empty-handed. She walked up to Whitewind. "I think things are starting to get interesting again," she told him.<p>

"Why do you say that?" He asked.

"Well, as I traveled along the usual path, I came across a… blob," she explained, still trying to wrap her head around it as well.

"Blob?" Whitewind asked, alarmed. Iceleaf nodded. "Take me to where it was," he growled.

* * *

><p>A minute later, Whitewind had gathered his elite team, at least, that's what he called them anyway, they were really just friends that he had known since childhood, and trusted them completely. So in a way, it was an elite team.<p>

The group consisted of Whitewind and Iceleaf, of course, Lego, his dog Spirit Beta, who was an amazing tracker, Hashberry, a lioness who had a mean temper, with claws just as unforgiving, Scarlet, a fox who was quite sweet unless you did something to piss her off, Chidori (no one was quiet sure as to why he was named that), a loud and outspoken, but ironically shy at times, tiger who was fiercely loyal to his friends, Scooter, a childlike bear that had the dream of one day being his leader's right hand Spirit, even if such a position was continually denied, and finally Tsuki, a rabbit Spirit who played pacifist, loved the moon more than the sun, fitting her name, and had more of a support role in fights than anything.

The six moved out, Iceleaf in front with Whitewind beside her, and Chidori with Scarlet in the back, with the rest of them fanning out in a circle formation around Tsuki in case of an attack.

When they got to the spot, Iceleaf peeked over a bush, hissing, "It's still there."

Whitewind looked over the bush as well, seeing a black blob with a mask for a face. It appeared to be looking for something. "What's it looking for?" He asked, studying the creature.

"I don't know, but I don't like it," Tsuki said. "Stay away from it."

"That's probably smart," Hashberry said, eyeing the creature nervously.

Unfortunately, the blob took notice of them as they started to back away. It swiped at them, almost taking Iceleaf's leg off. "Watch it, buddy!" She yelled, kicking it. Her leg struck the black mass, but it barely flinched. She attempted to pull her foot back, but found that it was stuck. The shadowy matter that made up the creature then started to crawl up her leg. Shocked and frightened, she slashed at it with her claws, ripping the mask it wore in half. The creature let out a shriek and died, all remnants of its body disappeared with the wind.

"The hell was that?" Chidori asked.

"I don't know, and frankly, I'm not sure I want to know," Hashberry muttered.

"Alright, we need to find out if there are any more of them," Whitewind said. "We'll go in groups of two. Spread out and search the area. If possible, capture at least one if you can find any. Be back at the village by nightfall. Keep the creatures out of the village."

The seven other members of the team nodded and split up, Whitewind with Iceleaf, Lego with Hashberry, Scooter with Tsuki, and Chidori with Scarlet. The teams decided, they went off in a random direction each.

* * *

><p>The two of them were completely silent, on alert. Any movement caused them to turn defensively in that direction, until a bunny or something popped out. "Geez, where are they?" Iceleaf asked.<p>

"You really want to have another run in with those things?" Whitewind asked.

"Hell no, but not knowing where they are is making me nervous," she replied.

Whitewind nodded in understanding. "I know, but let's just hope that was the only one."

"No shit," Iceleaf sighed.

The two wandered in silence for another couple minutes, until they came to a clearing. Whitewind stopped, his ears twitching, trying to pick up noise beyond the heavy rain. Iceleaf noticed what he was doing and did the same. They both heard a deep growl and spun around; facing the direction they came from. Another blob appeared, seemingly laughing at them before transforming into what looked like three heads stacked atop one another.

"Oh fuck," Iceleaf and Whitewind groaned at the same time.

"I wonder if the others are running into these creatures as well?" Iceleaf questioned, dodging an odd wind-based attack.

"I think we have to worry about ourselves first," Whitewind replied, jumping away from a lightning attack. "What the hell is this thing!?"

Iceleaf didn't have time to reply, as she was smacked by a wind attack. She was about to yell at the odd tower, but then a weird aura surrounded her, and the words never left her mouth. Confused, she moved her lips, attempting to get words to come out, but nothing happen. Annoyed, she began silently yelling at monster.

"What the hell did it just do?" Whitewind asked.

Iceleaf made various gestures, the message that she was trying to get through to him effectively, 'It silenced me, dammit!'

Unknown to the poor wolf-Spirit, while he was trying to interpret his mate's frantic gestures, he too was silenced.

Normally, Whitewind would have laughed at her current predicament, but now was not the time. He tried to yell at her, 'Just attack it!' but nothing came out. Surprised, he clutched his throat. Iceleaf jerked her head in the aggressor's direction. Whitewind nodded and they shot forward, slashing away at the creature. It shrieked and exploded into goop, covering the two. 'Nasty,' Iceleaf mouthed as she wiped the gunk off.

'We have to tell the others,' Whitewind mouthed and gestured. Iceleaf nodded, and they started to wander away in an attempt to find their friends.

Along the way, Whitewind started to feel strange. Soon after, he collapsed. "Whitewind!" Iceleaf yelled, finally regaining her voice. Before she could do anything to help him, she was struck in the back by a fire-based attack. Barely conscious, she looked back at the offender, growling at it. It was similar to a stereotypical ghost with a metal body, and a candle for a torso. "Wha…?" She asked as it created a sphere of pure energy, sending it at her. The energy exploded, knocking her out.

* * *

><p>Whitewind awoke with a start. He jumped up and smashed his head on a low ceiling. Groaning, he looked around, finding that he was in a tiny cage. "Fuck," he muttered, thinking, 'This day is just getting better and better, isn't it?'<p>

Quickly, he spotted his friends, who were in similar situations. He was about to call out to them when a grey-haired woman with red eyes approached him. "Hello there," she greeted.

"What do you want with us?!" Whitewind growled.

"Why, you're going to a part of my experiment?" The woman replied.

"What? Experiment?" Whitewind repeated, confused.

The woman nodded. "I'm conducting an experiment. I wish to see how people deal with the unknown. And you, my dear, are the 'unknown'." She smirked.

Whitewind didn't get the chance to question her further, as she then activated some sort of spell that blinded him. Then pain washed over him, feeling as though his body was going to be ripped in half. It only lasted for a couple seconds, though, before he lost consciousness.

* * *

><p><strong>There we go! Remember to tell me of errors and sure!<strong>

**And by the way, the Shadows in this are the Fanatic Tower and Phantom King. If you can find the connection, good job!**

**Also, I couldn't come up with good names for Chidori and Tsuki, so that's what their names ended up being. If you can figure out where I got the names, make sure to say so! And my thought process for Tsuki is a little skewed, so I'll give you a hint. "- - - -gami"**


	45. Second Shot At The Festival Time!

**I know, this story hasn't been updated in about 2 months. However! Inspiration was not coming to me, and I really didn't want to put multiple days in it, so it's a pretty short chapter, and I'm sorry about that, but it should pick up again for the beach trip. You know, I'm horrible with anything that generally isn't comedy filled, so that's probably a big reason why this took so long.**

**By the way, I was going through my reviews early on in this chapter's development, and found OdinSnivyGunner's review from Chapter 41. So that's where the beginning of this came from. It's probably the whole reason this got done to begin with. So I have to say, thank you!**

**Also, I really want to play Wind Waker, but I don't own it. So instead, I played through the whole of Phantom Hourglass in the matter of three days.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 45<p>

"And that's what happened," Whitewind finished. To his surprise, when he came back to the present, he found that Yu had seemingly long since tuned him out, headphones over his ears. "Hey, were even listening?! How'd you even get those? We're in your mind!"

Yu sighed and pulled off the headphones. "What're you yelling about?"

"You tuned me out, dammit!" He accused.

"Sorry, I got bored," Yu chuckled nervously with a shrug.

"This is important exposition, dude!" Whitewind yelled angrily. He ripped the iPod that Yu held out of his hands. "What were you even listening to?" He unlocked it, looking at the 'now playing' tab on the currently open iTube app. "….King K. Rool's songs…?" He asked.

Yu shrugged again with a small laugh. "A friend told me it sounded good. So I figured I'd listen to it."

"You know what? I don't think I want to know." Whitewind returned to the iPod. "So, what was the last thing that you heard me say?"

"Uh, something about your mate falling down a hill…?" Yu replied.

"You dumbass, that was the very beginning of the story!" Whitewind yelled, clearly pissed off. After taking a couple calming deep breaths, he started again from where Yu had blanked. Midway through, he stopped, an eye twitching violently. "It's time for you to go," he whispered, attempting to not explode in annoyance at being interrupted again. "I'm not telling you the rest of the story, though, so don't be surprised if you're missing some info later."

"Oh, oops. Um, goodbye," Yu muttered awkwardly, leaving the mindscape in a hurry, leaving Whitewind to groan to himself about being stuck with such a moron.

On the way to the festival, Yu told what he remembered of Whitewind's story to Naoto, who found it saddening that he didn't even have the attention span to stay interested in the story of the Spirit he was attempting to help for more than 5 minutes. When she voiced this, Yu shrugged and said, "I'm not a morning person. What do expect?"

"For you to fall asleep, not tune him out," Naoto replied. "Seriously, that doesn't even make any sense."

Yu shrugged again. "Whatever," he replied without a care. Unfortunately, this response made his girlfriend wonder why she chose this guy out of all of them. Knowing what she was thinking, he said, "I find that hurtful."

"And what did I say?" Naoto asked.

"You were wondering why you chose me out of all the men in the world," Yu replied.

"Very good, you're right," Naoto told him.

To this, Yu pouted. Then he put his arm around her shoulder, saying, "Well, there is an obvious answer to that, you know. It's because I'm a handsome genius."

"Right…" Naoto replied teasingly.

Yu pretended that she hadn't said that, and turned his attention to the festival that was up ahead. "After stalking… er, watching, Teddie and Rise yesterday, we didn't really do anything here other than eat, did we?"

"Not really," Naoto replied. "We even forgot to make a wish at the shrine."

Yu nodded. "That's true. Let's not forget this time, alright? As a matter of fact, that's top priority. Let's go." Without waiting for consent, he grabbed her wrist and dragged her to the shrine. "What're you wishing for?" He asked upon releasing her.

"Keep dragging me around like that and it will be to get away from you," Naoto replied without hesitation.

Yu pouted. "Ouch," he muttered. "But I know that you can't do that, you love me too much. Even if you did, though, we're going to spend a good chunk of time together in the TV, so at that point it won't even matter."

"I sometimes wonder why I put up with you," Naoto said.

"Only sometimes?" Yu asked.

"Ok, all the time," she admitted.

Yu simply laughed in response.

The two made their wish and left, buying more junk food along the way as they explored everything they missed the day before. There wasn't much to do, except push rude people out of their way, eat, and fish though. It took about 5 minutes to explore everything not food related. Most of it was just booths containing masks.

At one point, they found a stall that had wooden swords for sale. Yu chuckled and picked one up, twirling it around. The man running the stall seemed fairly impressed and informed him that on the 24th, a medieval festival was going to be taking place, and that he should partake in the tournament. Yu smiled. "That doesn't sound like a half-bad idea. But why medieval? We had nothing to do with them back then."

"Yeah, well, it's an experimental thing. It's going to be a lot of fun for everyone that goes to it. At least, that's what they claim anyway."

"That doesn't sound very reassuring," Yu said.

"You got that right," the man sighed.

"Ok then," Yu muttered, returning the sword and quickly walking away. "Well, that was interesting. I know what we're doing on the 24th!"

"You're going to get your butt kicked in a medieval tournament?" Naoto joked.

"I'm not that bad with a sword, you know," Yu pouted. "And I won't get my butt kicked!"

"You have fun with that," Naoto said, trying not to think about his rapidly changing moods as he suddenly ran over and started lovingly petting a puppy, all the while scowling as the owner started to drone about how her dog had done 'this' earlier, and kill a rabbit yesterday, and all sorts of other oddball things.

Once he was done with that random act, the two decided to head to the lottery because they amassed a crap load of tickets through buying junk food.

Yu landed in the sixth place tier, and thus obtained 'The Divine Way,' which he had already picked up a long time ago back when he had jack-shit to do almost all the time. Naoto didn't get anything better, however, as she, rather ironically, got a book titled 'What to be a detective? Here's how!'

They got a kick out of the irony, and then silently came to an agreement. "Switch," they said at the same time, trading books.

After they were finished with that, they had nothing to do. So, they wandered the empty streets of Inaba for a good couple minutes. They quickly grew bored, however, and thus Yu walked his girlfriend home before returning to the Dojima residence.

Despite the fact that it didn't take long to do any of the various activities that they had partaken in, it was amazingly almost 8 when he returned. Yosuke texted him about half an hour later while he was reading his new, and amazingly corny, book, stating that the girls had finally gotten their scooter licenses. They decided that the 23rd was the perfect day to go to the beach, and thus, that was went they would go.

Yu replied with a simple 'neat' and returned to his book, which he was beginning to find to be a special type of incredibly hilarious, seeing as it was probably meant for children, meaning that none of it would really work in real life more than ¼ of the time.

* * *

><p><strong>Again, sorry for it being short. I promise, that the next one should be longer and more interesting.<strong>

**Also, I'd been thinking about the medieval carnival for a while now. Those things are fun, though I think they won't have one this year. Anyway, I've actually gotten my only jewelry-type items there. Two dragon necklaces, one of which I lost in TE-6 at my school. Pissed at that really, which may be why I'm adding this in in the first place.**


	46. Again, Sorry This Is Important, Though!

**Good morning!**

**Yeah... I made an update not even a month ago. I know, this probably just is obnoxious. However, this time I have something incredibly important for you guys to know.**

**I am... (pause for dramatic effect) going to rewrite this series! WOO!**

**Here's why...**

**So, not long after saying '_This is going onto a 6 month or until I can get inspired_' hiatus, I got someone to review every couple of chapters, leaving sweet, but almost cryptic (as in, I couldn't remember what happened in that chapter, so I didn't know what they were talking about) reviews about that particular chapter. This led me to re-read that particular chapter... and in turn realize this whole story is full of plot-holes, inconsistency, and grammar errors galore, which is really bad for me, considering I am such a Grammar Nazi at times.**

**So, here I am. Re-writing this story. I've fixed up to chapter 3 by now, which without an A/N is almost 3000 words.**

**So, I'm making a number of changes to the main story now that most of it is laid out.**

**First: _The character's ears and tails will already be their particular animal's. It doesn't make any sense why they would start as cat's, and then change. Especially since Naoto is a cat._**

**Second: _I'm getting rid of the social links. Maybe for some of the funny moments I'll retain as something that he just so happens to walk into, but otherwise those aren't necessary. Plus, the sport's SL doesn't make any sense if he can't hide his ears for half the story. I'll be skipping the days were nothing interesting happens._**

**Third:_ I aim to give the random OCs like Rie (who I've realized has the same name as the Persona Q character, and thus I see her as that particular character. Oh, maybe I can tie that into the story somehow. I'll just have to change the name. Though, then there will be spoilers for that game, but...) more appearances and character so there is a proper reason to have her there. If you don't want her there to begin with, inform me so I can remove her._**

**Fourth: _I'll get working on the relationships sooner. Hopefully, anyway._**

**That's all I can remember at the moment. If I remember something else uber important, then I will change up this and replace it.  
><strong>

**The story will be posted sometime next month, hopefully, as a different story, so I can leave this story, the original, up. So keep an eye out for that. Maybe I'll actually post the first chapter today so that you guys can find it again.**

**_I am horribly sorry for anyone that loved this story._ I should get to where I was within the year, if I keep at it, and then I can continue almost as though I never stopped to rewrite to begin with. In the meanwhile, **


	47. The final chapter-type thing!

**This is the finale!**

**Seriously****. I've uploaded the first chapter of the re-write a couple hours ago. So other than this little thing to inform you that I am doing that and to go follow it if you want to eventually see the story continue, this is technically the last you'll see of this story.**

**By the way, I need a name for this re-write because the current name (Spirits!) sucks and Demon Ears make no sense, considering I'm not referring to them as such in the story anymore and I've gotten to the point in my writing ability where it sounds rather stupid and descriptive anyway.**

**So, in conclusion, go check out the re-write if you would be so kind, and give me a new name for the damn thing.**


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